Nice(Lander) Gene
by CandleHeadButt
Summary: There are sides to Big Gene that he rarely lets anyone see, mostly out of pride and out of embarrassment. In this tale, Ralph and the others learns what happens when Gene forces himself to hide one of his most FAMILIAR aspects of his personality. Niceland will never know what hit it. (Note: This story takes place after the events of 'Shelved' for those that were confused.)
1. Chapter 1- The Bet

Chapter 1- The Bet

"Quitin' time!" sang Felix as he and the other Nicelanders made their way to the entrance of Niceland to do their daily clean up.

It had been another busy day at Litwak's Arcade, especially since ralph and the other Nicelanders agreed to enable the so-called 'Bonus level' into their game. Now everyone had a chance to contribute to the game and for once, there were no out-of-work characters lost and struggling in GCS.

Everyone was having fun.

Well, except for ONE person.

"Oh Gene!" Mary chirped as she continued to sweep some of the dirt of the steps "I'm glad that you made it back."

The portly Mayor of Niceland tried his best to clean himself but after being blasted out of the window for what felt like the one thousandth time of the day, he needed a bit of a break. He brushes his hair back and cleared his throat as he tried his best to look presentable in front of Mary.

"Y-yes! I wouldn't want to ruin the flow of things here if I wound up missing!" Gene said, cursing to himself that he couldn't think of anything pithy to say in front of Mary.

Mary stepped up to Gene and gave him a peck on the check, "Good! I have a surprise for you later so go clean yourself up and meet me at Tappers at 8!"

Gene was lost in the moment, still feeling the warm of Mary's kiss on his cheek. His normally red cheeks blushed even brighter as he felt himself drift off in his thoughts.

"O-Oh of course! I'll be at Mary's, Tapper! I mean-!"

Mary giggled sweetly as she left for her apartment, leaving the Mayor with the rest of the Niceland residence outside. A smile appeared on Gene's face as his spirits rose.

"I-I really think she likes me!"

"Ooooh, is someone in tha mood for a little kissy-kissy? Mwa-mwa!"

Gene turned just in time to see Norwood smiling at him smugly. Turning even more red in the face, Gene glared at his friend, huffing as he straightened out his tie.

"Honestly, Norwood! MUST you act so crass?"

"Now come on Genie! We've been friends for, what, 30 years? You'd think I know when my best buddy is flirting with the BEST baker in Niceland!" Norwood said cheekily as he put his arm around Gene, the man blushing even brighter than before.

"First of all, NORWOOD…" the mayor said gruffly as he took the red-head's arm off his shoulder "While I will admit that I do….I do have some fEE-lings for Ma-RY!"

Gene's voice broke in the middle of his words, causing the mayor to clear his throat again, sniffing condemningly "While I DO have the UPMOST of respect for Ms. Mary, one cannot go about throwing around their feelings as they were nothing! Love doesn't work that way!"

"It seemed to work for Felix…." Norwood said, pointing back to the repair man who was now being held warmly in the arms of his wife.

Gene couldn't help but feel a knot form in his stomach as he looked at the sight; seeing Felix and Calhoun together? As much as he hated to admit it, he was jealous. Not jealous that Felix had found another person to love but rather that Felix had the courage to actually TELL the woman he loved how he felt about her.

He couldn't lie to himself; Gene loved Mary. He had loved Mary since the first year they were plugged in but thanks to both his shyness and stubbornness, he couldn't find the nerve to tell her how he REALLY felt about her. So year after year, Gene tried his best to surround himself with the others in order to get close to her. Of course, being the Mayor only helped but over the past 30 years he just couldn't will up the courage to tell her.

Oh no, he had the courage to hate Ralph for 30 years but as soon as Mary entered the room, he turned into mush.

The irony.

Gene gave Norwood an annoyed look, rolling his eyes as he entered the apartments "Honestly Norwood, we're not all heroes like Felix."

"Ya don't HAFTA be a hero like Felix to tell a girl you like them!" Norwood called back "Ya just hafta have the right amount of guts and, as much as I hate to say, you DO have more guts than most of us!"

"HEY NEL! I THINK NORWOOD HAS SOMETHING TO TELL YOU." Gene yelled from the atrium of the apartment.

"What does Norwood have to tell me?" asked the little Nicelander as she approached her neighbor.

"GAH! NEL!" shouted Norwood, turning almost as red as his hair.

"What, Gene said you had something to say. What is it?"

Norwood turned back to Gene, giving him a glare that could kill. Gene could only snicker at the man as he pushed the button to the elevator.

"Like you said, you just have to have the right amount of guts!"

"Here's to another successful day at work!" Ralph said happily as he tapped glasses with Felix.

"I hear ya brother!" replied Felix as he took a sip of his root beer "Man, I've never seen us so busy! I'm startin' to worry if I can move fast enough for the kids!"

"Just keep eatin' those Turbo Pies an' ya shouldn't have any problem!" chuckled Ralph "Mary an' the rest keeps 'em comin' out faster than I can wreck!"

Mary blushed a bit as she looked at Ralph, "Aw, come on Ralph! My pies aren't THAT good!"

"I beg to differ…." Said a calm voice from behind the woman.

Mary turned around to see Gene standing before her, a rather suave look on his face.

"Oh, Gene! Thank goodness you're here!" the woman said brightly as she moved over to make room for him to sit next to her.

"It isn't the behavior of a gentleman to leave their lady waiting like that!" Gene said, taking a seat next to Mary.

Despite the rather proud look he wore on his face, Gene was horribly nervous on the inside.

"Just stay cool. Stay calm. It's not like she's going to BITE you!" Gene said to himself "But there was that one time according to our backstory that we fought when we were three and she DID bite my hand and-!"

"Gene? Gene, are you okay?" asked Mary, giggling a bit once she saw that Gene was spacing out a bit.

"Oh-oh! Yes! Dear!" Gene replied sheepishly, clearing his throat "What were you going to say?"

"What I was going to say was….well, I just wanted to thank you."

Gene blinked in surprised, "Thank me? Thank me for what?"

To his shock, Mary took Gene's hands gently into her own, holding them warmly "I wanted to thank you for always being there for me."

Gene's face began to break from its usually calm form as it glowed red "It-it-it's just what a Mayor does!"

"No, no, no….Not as mayor…." Mary said, her own cheeks blushing "As…well, just as yourself."

"I-I don't think I understand…." Gene said, his voice coming out in a little squeak.

"Don't act like I haven't noticed the way you always run up to me whenever there's trouble! During the first sign of disaster, who do you run to first? Me! When something fun is going on, who do you ask to go first? Me! You can't hide a lot from THIS girl, Genie!"

Gene let out a sheepish chuckle as he rubbed the back of his neck. He was at a complete lost for words; he thought that his previous plans were fool-proof! How could Mary figure out what he was doing?

Then again, he did have to admit that when it came to secrets, there were just some things he couldn't hide from Mary.

The woman reached into her hand bag and pulled out a little box.

"I thought….well, I thought after all the abuse it's been through, you'd like this back."

Gene was a little confused. He took the box from Mary's hands and opened it, his eyes widening as soon as he did.

"Mary!"

The woman smiled cutely at the mayor, "I knew you'd be surprised!"

Inside the box was a pocket watch. Gene instantly recognized it as the one he had been programed with but due to all the bonus levels he had gone through over the past few months, he had lost it. He remembered being so frantic when he found that it had fell from his pocket and how much he went about searching for it. He had no idea that Mary of all people had it in her possession.

"Where did you-?!"

"I actually found it over by the grill! It was a little beat up so Felix and I decided to fix it up for you!"

"W-well, thank you!" Gene said, a bright smile on his face as he prepared to put it in his pocket but as he did, Mary stopped him.

"Ah, ah, ah! Don't put it away yet. Look inside of it!"

Gene opened the latch of the pocket watch, only to find an inscription written on the inside.

"Thank you for always being there for me. Love…." Gene had to stop once he said the word, a lump forming in his throat "Love Mary."

Gene looked over at Mary, giving the woman a look she rarely saw. He was happy.

No, happy wasn't strong enough to describe what he was feeling.

He was touched by the single gift that Mary had given him. The woman could see the brightness in his blue eyes and he bit his lip, trying to fight back the love-struck grin that was forming on his face.

"Th-thank you…" Gene said.

Mary then moved closer and hugged the mayor tightly, "You're welcome Big Gene!"

Gene wanted this moment to last forever. He had never been so happy in his life just to be around Mary like this. He was once again becoming lost in his thoughts but the sound of snickering in front of him broke him out of his stupor. There before him sat Ralph, Felix, and Calhoun. Ralph chuckled deeply as he turned and took another swig from his mug. Felix on the other hand looked so enamored Gene could have sworn that he was floating off of his chair. Calhoun could only give the mayor a nod, as if to tell him he were a lucky man.

Gene blinked twice as he felt his chubby cheeks turning red again, gently pulling away from the hug as he looked at Mary again.

"A-a-a-a-as I said Mary, th-thank you for the gift!" the mayor stuttered as he placed the watch in his pocket "I will always treasure this…."

"Just make sure you put it some place where ya won't lose it!" Mary said with a giggle as she got off her chair and left to join the rest of the Nicelander ladies on the other side of the bar, but not before giving Gene another kiss on the cheek.

At this point, Gene didn't care WHO was looking at him; he was in so much love.

"Aw, love always brings out the best in people!" Felix sighed as he looked at Gene with a dreamy look on his face.

"How can you STAND this?" asked Ralph with a snicker.

"Hey, what can I say? I like sweet men!" winked Calhoun as she placed a hand on Felix's head.

"Yo, Gene!" Ralph called, trying to get the mayor's attention.

The little Nicelander finally snapped to as he looked towards Ralph, a little surprised to see him smiling at him.

"Yes?"

"Come over here for a sec!"

Gene jumped from his seat and joined the other three, trying his best to regain his dignified composer but he was of course losing the battle; his cheeks were still bright red and there was a love-struck smile on his face.

"Yes, Ralph. Is there something you need?"

"Aw come on Big Gene, drop the pretentiousness and let lose a little! We just saw you floating on cloud nine back there with Mary!"

Gene sniffed as he straightened his jacket, "Well, Ralph, Unlike YOU, I have a reputation to uphold. I can't just show up somewhere and act as happy and cheerful as Felix!"

"Pssst, bull-donkey!" laughed Calhoun as she rolled her eyes "Gene, I'd hate to break it to ya, but you're just one of a crap load of 'leaders' in this arcade and even they don't take their roles THAT seriously! You're going to give yourself an ulcer if you keep acting so uptight!"

Gene grumbled as he leaned on the counter, "Who says I HAVEN'T?"

Calhoun was a might taken aback; Gene was SERIOUS.

"Oh…well….." the sergeant replied, a little embarrassed at the response.

"As much as I hate to admit it….Ralph and Tammy ARE right Genie…" Felix said meekly, rubbing the back of his head.

Gene made a turn towards Felix, looking both stunned and a bit annoyed "What!? Are you telling me that you think being TOO serious with my job?!"

The other three turned away, rolling their eyes and whistling. Gene grumbled again, his mustache twitching as it always did whenever he was peeved.

"Oh. I SEEEEE. I figured that Ralph and Sgt. Calhoun wouldn't take me seriously, no offense ma'am."

"None taken…."

"But FELIX?! Even YOU?!"

"Weeeeeell…." Said Felix, trying his best to figure out how to tell Gene the news gently "It's just…well….I mean, I have a lot of respect for you sir since technically, you are my superior in both age and job title but….I mean…."

Gene scooted closer to Felix, his eyes looking deep into him, "Felix. TELL ME."

That tone.

No one could say no to THAT.

"Aw come on Gene! You're like a foot tall marshmallow! Yeah, you can lead us rather well but you're still a cute-!"

"Don't say it, Felix!" Gene said angrily.

"A cute, little-!"

"FELIX JR., STOP!"

"A cute little character who should relax a bit more!"

Gene gave the trio before him a look as if he had been shot in the heart.

"WHAT?!"

"Now, I'm not complain' about what you've done but-!"

"But it's kinda hard to take someone seriously when they're blasted out of the window on a daily basis…." Chuckled Ralph as he took another sip of his root beer.

"OKAY, I HEARD THAT!" Gene said as he leapt on the table, grabbing onto Ralph's remaining overall strap "I thought we both AGREED that we wouldn't mock each other for our JOBS but I can see that THAT promise is out the window!"

Calhoun nearly choked on her root beer as she heard what Gene said.

Surly he thought that sounded better in his head.

"Gene! Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Ralph said as he easily plucked Gene off the table "Calm down before you strain something buddy!"

Gene kicked his little legs furiously as Ralph held him, "GET YOUR PAWS OFFA ME, RALPH! THIS ISN'T FUNNY!"

"An' ya gotta do somethin' about that tempter of yours Genie!" Ralph chuckled as he placed Gene back on his seat.

The three looked at Gene as he continued to pout, huffing as he crossed his arms.

"Come on Genie, can't ya relax for a SECOND in your life?" asked Felix.

"That doesn't require copious amounts of alcohol?" snickered Calhoun as she gave a wink to Ralph.

"OF COURSE I CAN!" bellowed Gene, his entire face red now.

Felix jumped back but by now he had had it with Gene.

"Mayor Gene, I'm your friend but I have to put my foot down somewhere and this time, I'm doin' it for you!"

"What in the ARCADE are you talking about Felix?!" Gene said, rubbing his temples.

"What I'm saying is that starting RIGHT NOW, you sir are going on a vacation!"

Gene gave Felix an unimpressed look.

"Felix? We're still on the clock for tomorrow and I STILL have to show up to be THROWN and BLOWN OUT of the window."

"Did I say anything about a trip? What I MEANT was, you're taking a vacation from your anger! I want you to learn how to control that temper of yours before you make yourself sick!"

Gene rolled his eyes as he huffed, "And WHERE do you expect me to go to do THAT?!"

"I dunno! Why don't you go with Mary to Street Fighter were she takes yoga lessons from Dhalsim? I'm sure HE could help!"

"THOSE brutes?! I wouldn't last a DAY! AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN MARY TAKES YOGA LESSONS FROM DHALSIM?! WHY DIDN'T I KNOW ABOUT THIS?! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?! YOU-!?"

And with that, Calhoun shoved a large pretzel and Gene's mouth.

"MPPPH!?"

"Settle down, blue boy." Calhoun said with a gentle grin; she meant nothing by it but she just couldn't stand it when Gene started rambling in anger.

Gene glared at Calhoun but munched on the pretzel anyway, his most common reaction to anything that bothered him.

Felix rubbed his forehead as he gave a heavy sigh, "See Gene? You're always yellin' an' screamin'! Ya need ta take a break from that or somethin'!"

"Aw forget it, Felix! Ya know Gene is INCAPABLE of staying happy for more than five minuets. I mean, unless he's given food or booze."

"Mpph?! What was that?!" Gene said, finishing off his pretzel.

"SEE? Food's gone, he's back!" Ralph said, thumbing over to Gene, not seeing just how angry the man was at this point.

"I'll have you know that I am FULLY capable of keeping a sunny disposition for more than 30 seconds!" Gene bellowed as he got into Ralph's face, their noses touching.

"Oh yeah?" Ralph said smugly, "Prove it."

"I-I will!"

Gene then sat back on his stool, his arms crossed as he kept his gaze away from the other three.

15 seconds~

"Hey Gene?"

"WHAT?!"

"See, I told ya!" Ralph said as he threw up his hands.

"THAT WAS CHEATING!"

"GENE." Said Calhoun, a little stunned to see just how hot-headed the tiny man was.

Gene looked back at the faces before him, a feeling of dread coming over him. For a moment, his anger began to dip and he realized that he had indeed let his anger get the better of him. He then looked off to the side, seeing a few of the other arcade characters making quick glances at him before turning around, laughing under their breath.

Was this a way a mayor goes about behaving?

Of course not!

Gene once again sniffed, straightening his jacket as he gave Ralph a quick look.

"Okay big guy. If there's one thing we both have in common, its making bets."

"Yeah?" Ralph said as he arched his eyebrows.

"How about this? If I can keep my temper in check for….say, a day, will you PLEASE get off my case?"

Ralph snorted a laugh, "A DAY? Gene, I thought you were BIGGER than that!"

Gene's cheeks flushed red again, "WHAT ARE YOU IMPYING?!"

"Geeeene?"

"Okay, you want something better?! How about two days!"

"Mmn-mmn." Ralph shook his head.

"Three?" Gene said, crossing his arms.

"BIGGER, Gene!"

"A week!" Gene said, looking a bit panicked as the words flew from his mouth.

"That sounds about right!" Calhoun said as she shook her head "Not just for this bet, but just for you to clear your thoughts! Even my men know it's not best to go out on the battle field ANGRY!"

Gene took a few deep breaths as he let the bet settle into his head.

He could do this.

He KNEW he could do this!

This was no problem at all.

"Well Ralph, I will take your bet! I will go a week without getting angry! If I win, will you guys just GET OFF MY CASE?"

"And if WE win?" Ralph said, a smug grin coming on his face.

Gene thought for a second, rubbing his chin.

"Well, what do you-?" Gene's eyes widened in horror once he realized what Ralph wanted "NO! NOT THAT PLEASE! I JUST MADE THEM AND I'M SAVING THEM FOR A SPECIAL OCCASION!"

"Ya know EXACTLY what I want! All FOUR bottles of your special gummie-bear infused vodka!"

"But Ralph! This is the first batch that actually came out GOOD! You know how long it takes me to get it just right!"

"Those are the rules Big G! Can't back out of it now!"

Gene cursed to himself as he clutched his little fist but after a second, he calmed himself. His composure back, the Nicelander held out a hand towards the wrecker.

"Shake?"

"Shake." Ralph smiled as he gently shook Gene's hands.

"It's nice to know that you're giving me a sporting chance!" Gene said as he straightened his tie "But as you know, I NEVER go back on a bet! So don't except me to-NYAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

Too bad no one warned Gene that because he was still standing on the counter top, he was teetering close to the edge.

"Gene? Gene? Ya alright Gene?" Felix said as he looked over on the floor, seeing Gene laying on his back, an unamused look on his face.

Gene let out a groan as he grabbed his stomach, "URGH! MY ULCER!"

"I didn't know Nicelanders bounced…" Calhoun said.


	2. Chapter 2- Level One

Chapter 2- Level One

DAY 1

Fridays were always once of the busiest days in the arcade. Flocks of kids coming from school would rush the place and grab dibs on the first game they laid eyes one. For the characters in Fix-it-Felix Jr., this had become the norm and they were more than used to it.

"Alright, the kids are here but you have something else to keep focused on…." Gene said to himself, looking at his reflection in the mirror "No matter how bad things get, no matter how frustrated you become…you can't over-boil!"

Gene ran his fingers through his hair, breathing out deeply.

"As much as I hate to admit it, those guys are right. I have been letting my temper get the best of me…But this time, I'll prove to them that THIS Nicelander CAN keep his mind together! And not just for some silly bet! For…for as long as this game is plugged in!"

Gene let out a powerful laugh and puffed out his chest; he knew he could do this! What kind of mayor would he be if he couldn't?

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

"Uh, who is it?" Gene said, nearly tripping on his feet.

"Three guesses; I bake pies, I wear purple, and I wear a hat!" chirped the voice on the other side.

"Deanna?" Gene said with a snicker, opening the front door to reveal Mary, the Nicelander giving Gene a playful pout.

"Just for that, I'm not making rum cake tonight!"

"Aw come on, Mary! You know I was just kidding!"

Mary twittered, playfully pulling Gene's cheek, "You're no better than a child! Now get ready, the kids are here!"

Gene nodded as he went back into his apartment, gearing himself up for the first toss.

"I'M GONNA WRECK IT!"

The familiar wrecker made his way up the apartment, smashing Gene's window with his enormous fist.

"You're looking rather calm this morning!" Ralph whispered, a cheeky grin on his face.

Gene winked, hopping into Ralph's hands "Why wouldn't I be? It's just another day at work, Ralph my boy!"

Ralph then hurled Gene like a football as usual, but this time he might have thrown him a bit further, JUST to see if he could rile him up.

"NYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

BAM!

"Heh, I think he made it all the way PAST the brick pile THAT time!" Ralph laughed as he made his way up the building, throwing bricks everywhere.

Indeed, Gene had gone far past his normal landing spot but this didn't faze the Nicelander. As soon as his head stopped pounding enough for him to stand on his feet, he bolted back to the apartment, running into the back door and began his duty of handing out pies to Felix. Needless to say though, the little man was a bit winded; that jog was pretty far!

The player was near the bonus level of the game when Gene and Ralph met face to face again, the wrecker pounding his way on the bricks and concrete.

"Nice ta see ya made it back…." Ralph whispered, a smug grin curling on his lips "I thought it would have taken ya longer ta get back here!"

Gene knew better; Ralph was teasing him at this point but he decided to let the larger man have his fun for this round.

"You did throw me far, I will give you that. But it seems your aim is bit rusty." Gene replied, holding a pie out for Felix "Perhaps you should start practicing your throwing some more!"

Ralph snorted a laugh as he continued pounding bricks "What's this? Gene actually being SPORTING for a change! I never would have thought!"

"You just never give me a chance, young man!" Gene replied "But I'm sure you'll change your mind once I win this bet!"

"Ya mean if you make it past this evenin'! We still have a lotta games to play!" Ralph said, not realizing that Felix was directly under him.

The wrecker hit another layer of bricks, sending a wave of the things falling towards Felix. Had he not being under the control of the player, the little repair man would have easily dodged the deluge but unfortunately the player outside wasn't as quick.

BAM!

"OOOOOH!" cried the Nicelanders, watching as Felix tumbled back down towards the entrance of Niceland. Even Ralph and Gene had to stop, wincing in pain as their friend went sailing down below.

"At this rate, I might not be the one to crack first…." Gene said, rubbing the back of his neck.

For the next few hours, Ralph and Gene continued on with their little game though it was obvious to some of the other Nicelanders the two men were playing a game of who could annoy the other first. Ralph continued to toss Gene in a new way every time the game started up; first the wrecker threw Gene directly into the duck pond and in the next, he hurled him into the waste bins. Each time, it was something different but much to Ralph's shock, Gene appeared to be unfazed by his new flight plans.

Each time Gene was hurled off-screen, he would pick himself up and run back to the building. He didn't even seem to mind when the player actually reached the bonus levels, only to have Gene BLASTED out of the window by bombs.

Maybe the Nicelander was right; maybe this was a new day.

By the time the work day had been completed, Ralph was more than shocked at just how calm and collected Gene was. As the other Nicelanders began their clean up, Gene chatted amongst the other citizens, broom in hand and a smile still on his face.

Ralph didn't know what was creepier; Gene's calmness or his smile.

The giant man rubbed the back of his neck as he went back to cleaning his own area, only to be stopped by Felix.

"Was this another busy day or WHAT?" Felix laughed, slapping Ralph on his arm.

"Yeah, sure was…." The wrecker replied, an unsure tone in his voice.

Felix looked up at his friend in confusion, "Say big guy, what's up? You're usually so excited when work is over!"

"I know, I know…it's just…"

"What?"

Ralph snickered a bit as he turned his eyes back on Gene, seeing the mayor walking into the apartment buildings.

"Heh, ya know somethin' Felix? I think Gene is gonna put up a bigger challenge than I first thought!"

Felix let out an exasperated groan as he put his hands in his pockets; he had forgotten all about that silly bet but upon being reminded of it, he couldn't help but feel a little annoyed.

"Aw come on Ralph. What good is gonna come from this anyway?" Felix said as he pouted towards Ralph, crossing his arm.

"Well, free gummie-bear vodka if Gene loses!" chuckled Ralph.

"That's not the point I'm tryin' ta make, an' ya know it!" Felix said angrily "What I mean is, nothin' good is gonna come from this! Ya can bet your overalls!"

"Aw come on Felix! It's just a little bet! One that Gene brought on himself if ya remember!" Ralph said as he picked Felix up by the back of his collar, annoying the repairman even more "Sides, what harm can some lil three foot guy not yellin' at people bring?"

Felix shook his head as he tried to look angry at the wrecker. Of course, all this did was make him appear even more adorable; Felix wasn't the best at looking tough.

"I'm tellin' ya Ralph, by tha time this is over, we're ALL gonna regret this!"

"Ah, come on! I don't need ya mad at me too!" Ralph chuckled again as he took Felix and placed him in his shoulder, walking towards the trolley, "If I treat ya ta a couple of cold ones, will ya stop worryin'?"

"Maaaaybe…." Felix said with a small smile, trying his best to seem angry.

As the two made their way to Tapper's, the rest of the Nicelanders continued on with their night. Some of them had plans for the evening but a few others felt more comfortable staying in for the night. Mary was surprised to find for the first time in a long time, she couldn't find Gene anywhere in the halls of the apartment.

Just where had he gone?

"Nel?" Mary asked, taking her neighbor by the shoulder "Have you seen Gene anywhere?"

"Gene? Last I saw of him, he was heading to the penthouse an-!"

Before Nel could finish her sentence, Mary was off as fast as her tiny legs could carry her, nearly diving head first into the elevator. As soon as the floor reached the top of the apartments, Mary saw Gene walking slowly down the hall, his gait making it appear as if the man were on his last leg before passing out.

"GENE!" cried Mary from the end of the hall, not realizing just how loud she had shouted the Mayor's name.

Gene turned around, nearly stumbling as he did so "O-Oh, MARY! What a pleasant surprise!"

Mary ran up to the Nicelander, a concerned look on her face "You ran up here so fast, is there something wrong?"

"W-wrong? Oh, there's NOTHING wrong, dear!" Gene said with forced laughter, his eye twitching a bit.

Mary knew something was off; despite how hard he was trying to cover it up, Gene was more than a little frustrated. By the way his cheeks were turning colors before her eyes, she could tell he was SEETHING with rage but for some reason he was holding himself back.

But why exactly?

The Nicelander brushed a few stray leaves from Gene's coat, "Um, a few of us are going out tonight for dinner. W-would you like to join us?"

The response Gene gave the woman was something she didn't expect. In most cases, he would be more than pleased to go out for dinner, but from the looks in his eyes, going out for a night in the arcade was the LAST thing he wanted to do. The Mayor laughed nervously as he wrung his hands together, trying his best not to seem too nervous in front of the woman.

"Eeer. I would love to! LOVE TO. But….but something has come up!" Gene said sheepishly, his voice quivering a bit.

"Something came up? What?" asked Mary, raising an eyebrow.

"BUSINESS type stuff! You know, things that I have to get to otherwise, um, who KNOWS what would happen!" Gene said, backing away towards the door of the penthouse.

Mary could do nothing but stand and watch as Gene was trying to get away from her. Had it been something she said?

"A-are you sure I can't help you? You know you could get things done twice as fast with some he-!"

"NO!" Gene blurted out, his voice booming throughout the hallway. Mary jumped a bit as she had never heard Gene yell so loudly before. Catching himself, Gene cleared his throat and gave Mary a look of sorrow.

"Look, Mary. I'm sorry, but this is just something I have to take care of myself….But I would LOVE to take you out some other time? Okay?"

Mary lowered her head, a little sad that Gene was refusing her invitation but then again, who would she be if she forced Gene to go when he was clearly upset about something. She looked up again, giving the man a small smile.

"Alright Mr. Mayor….but if you need anything, you know where I am."

Gene felt his heart split in two from the look Mary was giving him but at the same time, he knew that if he were to go with her for the night, he would be unable to enjoy her company.

Not with the way he was feeling anyway.

With a heavy heart, the mayor waved towards the woman as she made her way back to the elevator, their eyes still focused on each other.

"S-sorry. Maybe next time…."

"Maybe next time…" Mary said, the elevator doors closing.

Gene sulked back into the penthouse, going over to the minibar and looking through the vast collection of drinks he had. For a moment, he wasn't sure what he wanted. He went further into the bar, the types of drinks only getting stronger until he stopped at some of his finest grade vodka. The man took the bottle and poured himself a nice amount before going over to the couch. He sat down heavily and took the glass to his lip, downing the liquid in one huge gulp. The man shook, trying his best to regain any sense of composure he had and not long after, a smile formed on his face.

The Nicelander then grabbed the nearest pillow.

And shoved it into his face.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"So he made it through the first day?" Calhoun asked with a smile.

"Yeah! I was SURE he would have cracked after I threw him into Q-Bert's house!" Ralph laughed.

"Seems like the lil guy is puttin' up a fight an' for that I have to give him some credit…." Calhoun said, looking down at her beer mug. She then snickered before shooting both Ralph and Felix an evil glare "But not too much!"

"Aw come on guys! Now you're just PICKIN' on the poor man!" Felix said, looking more than a bit worried at how the conversation was going "It's bad enough he has people in the arcade who think he's a joke, but now you guys are diggin' into him as well!"

"Simmer down solider! We're just havin' a lil fun with the man! We promise we won't go too far!" Calhoun replied, giving her husband a loving pat on the shoulder.

"I hope so. The last thing we need is Gene SNAPPIN' an'….an' I don't even WANNA think about it!" the repair man said, raising his mug to his lips.

"Bah, ya act as if I'm PURPOSLY tryin' to make the man's life miserable, Felix! I'm not gonna go outta my ya to make him crack….that MUCH!" Ralph said, a little surprised to see Felix so worried.

"Hiya Ralph!" rang a familiar voice from the entrance of the bar.

Ralph turned in his seat to see none other than Vanellope Von Schweetz waving towards him, some of the other Sugar Rush racers following her.

"Hey, kiddo! Great ta see ya!" The wrecker said as he held is arms out for a hug, the kid wasting no time in just jumping the man.

"MAN! The racers were so TOUGH today! Ya should have seen Minty plow Rancis into the marshmallow pits! I didn't think we would EVER stop crying about his hair!" the racer said, unable to hold back her laughter.

"Why don't ya tell me over some root-beer kid! Looks like we all have somethin' ta tell!" Ralph said, signally Tapper's for another refill.

"What? What happened in tha land of wreckin' an' bricks?" asked Vanellope, looking more than a bit excited at the chance to hear some gossip.

"Let's just say I broke my previous 'How far can I throw Gene' record more than a dozen times in one outing!" Ralph replied smugly.

"WHOA! How far did he fly this time?!" Vanellope said, leaping up and standing on her seat.

"Let's just say had I thrown him any further, he might have done crashin' through the game!"

Vanellope erupted into a great deal at laughter, the very thought of Gene flying through the air cracking her up.

"Aw man, if there is one thing I hope I can do before the end of my program, it's that I get a chance to throw Gene!"

The racer then stopped for a moment, thinking about what she said.

"Well, on the condition either someone makes me taller or someone shrinks 'im! I DO hafta take into account that I can't even get my arms around him an' he IS kinda heavy!"

"Hmmm, there might be a way…" Ralph said with a smile, his mind going to several specific mushrooms from one of the neighboring games.

"But ya really threw him that far? An' he didn't get mad at ya?"

The wrecker chuckled as he looked down to his friend, handing her a mug of root beer "Nope! In fact, the man took it like a champ!"

"Gene? Being CIVIL about somethin'?" Vanellope said, taking a small sip, "Never happens!"

"Huh, first time for everything!" Calhoun snickered.

"So what's the story behind this? I mean, I know Mr. Blue-Gene an' ya are gettin' along better but even I'm surprised he didn't bust a vein at ya!"

"Like I was tellin' the guys, since we're on this bet, he's not-!"

"WHOAH WHOAH WHOAH!" Vanellope said, nearly dropping her root beer on the floor "Ya said NOTHIN' about a BET big guy. Spill the info, because I have to know!"

"Oh, its nothin'!" Felix replied in a huff, rolling his eyes "Ralph just bet Gene that he couldn't' last a week without getting' mad at anyone an'-!"

"A WEEK!?" Vanellope blurted, another fit of giggles coming out of her "Gene wouldn't be able to last 15 MINUETS without yellin' at anyone!"

"THAT'S WHAT I SAID!" Ralph laughed, pointing towards his little friend.

Vanellope felt a sudden buzz go up her spine at the very mention of the word BET and GENE.

Oh, what opportunities laid before them!

The little racer then turned her focus back on the three adults before her, a smug grin appearing on her face.

"Ralph. Big Red. Ya start a bet without me? Am I even your FRIEND?"

Ralph gave the kid an unimpressed look, leaning on the counter of the table, "Nelly? What do you want?"

"I want in on this! I can't pass up an opportunity like this!" Vanellope said, jumping to her feet once more.

"Oh NO! I knew this was only going to get worse!" Felix said, placing his head in hands.

Ralph leaned towards his friend, trying his best to hide any plans the two would come up with "So what are ya thinkin', kid?"

Vanellope smirked, rubbing her tiny hands together "I'm thinkin' we gotta step it up a notch. Throwin' him in different places is just a start, but if Big Gene thinks he can really win this bet, we have to give some a REAL challenge!"

"An' that challenge would be?" Ralph replied, a devious grin forming on his face as well.

"If you wanna press someone's buttons, ya need a few supplies an' thanks ta your friendly, neighborhood Princ-pres-ident-ess, I am your one-stop-shop for such needs!"

"Oooh, I'm likin' tha sounds of this!" the wrecker said, only wanting to hear more of what the little racer had up her sleeves.

As the two began their plans, Felix could only shake his head; he knew things were going to escalate out of control and it would only be a matter of time before someone got hurt, either from someone going too far with a prank or Gene literally exploding on someone.

Either way, Felix knew he had to prepare his hammer for some fixing.

"Tammy, can you promise me somethin'?"

"Sure, sweets. Anything." The sergeant said with a grin.

"Have your troops prepared for the worst. There's a battle a'brewin'…."


	3. Chapter 3- Tested

Chapter Three

Day 2

Gene woke up with a pounding headache, nearly forgetting that he had spent the entire night drowning out his anger in liquor and shoving his face into pillows. The little man groaned as he rolled over on his back, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to clear his view.

"W-what time is it-?" Gene grumbled.

The man then looked at his watch, seeing that it was nearly 15 minutes to 9:00 am.

Opening.

"O-OH! PROGRAMERS!" Gene yelped, jumping to his feet and blasting off as fast as his tiny legs could carry him to his own apartment.

How could he slip up like this? What type of mayor would allow himself to get so drunk, especially on a WORK NIGHT of all times? Wasting no time, Gene sped off back to his own apartment to get ready for work, the minuets quickly ticking by much to his dismay.

"Urgh, I still smell of alcohol…." The man grumbled to himself as he hopped into the shower, hoping that the water spraying on his face would shock him out of his daze. He then reached for his soap and after a few seconds of frantic scrubbing, he noticed something.

"What?"

The man sniffed the air.

Something was…OFF.

He then looked down and saw that what he clutched in his hands was in fact NOT a bar of soap.

But instead of now half-melted bar of CHOCOLATE.

"What in the PROGRAMMERS-?!"

Gene then looked down, noticing that the heat of the shower had caused the bar to melt and drip messily on the floor but he had little to no time to clean it up later. He growled as he tossed the bar in the trash-bin and quickly washed off the remaining chocolaty residue off of his body as best he could. He then dashed to his closet and threw on a suit, not even taking the time to iron it like he usually did.

"Of ALL the things that could happen! I bet NORWOOD had something to do with this an-! GAH!"

Before Gene could move any further, he found himself being pulled back into his own closet, hitting the back of the wall so hard that several of his suits came raining down on him. Once his head was clear, he looked up.

Everything appeared normal. Just what in the world had happened?

The man then stood up but as he moved forward, he felt a tug on his arm.

He turned, seeing that somehow, someway, his suit had been tethered onto the back of the closest with string!

The man's jaw nearly hit the floor but he knew he couldn't stand there agape for long. He threw off his jacket and reached for another one, only to find that it too was tied to the wall with string!

And so was the next one!

And the next!

And the next!

All of Gene's suit jackets had been tied to the wall and even worse, in his frantic attempt to check them he had managed to get them all tangled together in one ugly lump of clothing. Gene let out a frustrated growl, wanting nothing more than to rip the entire wall off but he knew better than that. Besides not having the physical strength to even put a dent in the wall, he also knew that would be wasting time.

"Forget it, I'm going without the jacket!" the man said.

The mayor then made his way to the kitchen; he was so terribly hungry from not having eaten anything the night before and with time of the essence, he knew he couldn't stop and have the meal he so wanted to enjoy.

A muffin would have to do.

Gene for the box of muffins he had on his counter-top and reached inside but as soon as he did….

SNAP!

The mayor let out a loud yelp of pain as something struck his fingers. Pulling his hand away from the box, he then saw what had caused him such great distress.

A mouse trap?

Gene didn't know whether to be anger or just stunned as the thing continued to dangle from his fingers but a moment later, he pried his fingers from the metal bar.

What was happening? Everything was so normal yesterday!

Why was he asking? Gene KNEW someone was pulling a tricks on him and he had his suspicions as to who.

"RALPH."

He should have known.

Gene had a right mind to go reprimand the man for his actions but he stopped. What real proof did he have that Ralph pulled this tricks on him? He knew that the bet they had made could have been used to add strength to his argument but it would still be his word against Ralph and if no one SAW Ralph coming into his apartment the night before to set up all these elaborate traps, Gene would be the one looking like the fool in the end.

The mayor knew that for now, he had to keep his mouth shut.

Aside from that, if he let one sign of anger cross his face he automatically lost the bet and that was something he just wasn't going to do.

No, programmers! Mayor Gene NEVER loses a bet!

Well, not that many anyway.

The mayor looked down at his watch, realizing that he had run out of time during his exploits with the traps in his apartment. Dashing out of his apartment faster than a speeding hedgehog, the man made it down to the front of the apartments to greet his neighbors, nearly tripping on the steps as he did so.

"G-good morning! Good morning to you all!" Gene wheezed, a bit out of breath from running so quickly.

The Nicelanders were getting into position in their apartments as the arcade opened up though they bit their tongues at the condition they saw Gene in; they knew better than to say anything now, especially with how frazzled the man looked. Mary on the other hand couldn't hold herself back any further.

"Gene…."

Silence.

"Geeeene…."

"What is it, Mary?" Gene whispered, trying his best to remain in place.

"I-I just wanted to ask if you were alright." The woman replied, leaning over slightly to get a better view of the Mayor.

Gene twitched a bit in his place, an unnerved smile appearing on his face "I-I told you before, NOTHING is wrong my dear! Now, it's best that we focus on the game before the players take notice!"

Mary returned to her spot in the window but she knew better; no matter how much Gene was trying to hide it from her, she could see that the man was no better than he was the other night. In fact, there was something about him that looked WORSE than the previous night but whatever was bothering Gene, he wasn't going to tell.

And of all the things, that's what bothered Mary the most.

The woman shook her head and sighed, "Yes, mayor…."

Gene felt a lump form in his throat upon hearing how upset Mary was.

Oh, WHY was he forcing himself through this? He knew that it would probably make things better if he just TOLD Mary about the bet but at this point, but he felt that if he did he would be caving in and that was something he just couldn't do. Nonetheless, he hated having to drag Mary into the mess that was starting to form around him. The man prepared to say something when the familiar sound of the quarter entering the slot echoed throughout the cabinet.

"Well, here we go guys!" Felix whispered to the Nicelanders.

The group smiled as they looked towards the player, ready to give Felix pies.

And then Roy sniffed the air, a sweet scent hitting his nose.

"Um, does anyone else smell CHOCOLATE?"

"ROY."

The signal for the quarter drop sounded as everyone sprang into place.

Go time.

"I'M GONNA WRECK IT!" Ralph roared as he began to make his way up the building.

Gene braced himself for the impact, jumping into position once Ralph's massive fist broke through the wall.

"Go easy on me today, Ralph!" Gene said, his voice shaking a bit.

"Aww, somethin' the matter Gene?" Ralph whispered in a teasing tone "I thought I could take it!"

"I just don't have the enerGGGGGGGGGY NYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

Before Gene could even finish, Ralph tossed him off screen but this time, Ralph made sure to aim in a certain spot and once the man left his hands, the wrecker made his way back up the building. Felix on the other hand, made a few quick glances to and from, not seeing Gene running from the side of the forest and entering into the side door like he always did.

"Ralph? RALPH?" the repair man whispered, trying his best to make sure not to get hit.

"Yeah? What is it Felix?"

"What happened ta Gene? He's usually here by now!"

Ralph snorted a laugh as he continued to pound bricks, "Oh, I'm sure he's fine! He might be a little caught up at the moment."

Caught up?

Felix knew something was up.

And at the moment, something WAS up; Gene.

The man was now hanging from the tree he had been thrown towards but as if that were not bad enough, he was caught helplessly in a massive web of strawberry taffy.

"I should have seen this coming…." The man mumbled, hopelessly stuck in the mess of goo.

From his position, Gene could only watch helplessly as Felix and the others continued on with the gameplay and no matter how much he struggled, he only seemed to snag himself even deeper into the trap.

"SOMEONE! HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!" Gene wailed, but he was much too far for anyone to see him and even if they COULD see him, he knew the risk they would be going into if they even dared go out to help during the gameplay.

The mayor knew that if anyone was going to help him, it was himself.

The man struggled and pulled as best he could but the candy was much too strong and his own strength wasn't nearly enough to even weaken the substance. After five minutes of struggling, Gene was exhausted and being upside down was only making him dizzy.

"Urrgh, I have to get down from here before I pass out!" the man said, thrashing once more, only to have a piece of the candy fall into his mouth.

The man sputtered a bit but then realized two things; first off, the candy was delicious. No matter how aggravated he was, he could not deny good candy when he tasted it. Second, he already had a means of getting free and he was much too flustered to even use it.

"Of course!" Gene cursed to himself, as he rolled his eyes.

The man then began to chew the strands of taffy around his arms and wrist, freeing himself in no time. He tried to pull forward but found that there was another gob adhered to his back. There was no way he was going to be able to reach that. He looked upwards, seeing the taffy around his legs and ankles. The man groaned at what he knew he had to do next but seeing as he didn't have the strength to pull himself up and eat the remaining taffy, it was the only thing he could do.

He began to wriggle his feet free from his shoes which helped free him further but now….

Now?

"Oh programmers, I knew this was going to be a bad day…."

Gene reached up and began to undo the buckle on his belt and once he had loosened his pants….

"NYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

Gene felt himself tumbling backwards as his weight fell pulled him to the ground, pulling him not only from his pants but form his coat as well. Gene landed with a bounce, pantless but free. He took a moment to recover from the feeling of the blood rushing to his head and got back onto his feet.

Just in time, another game was about to begin.

But he wasn't wearing pants.

But he couldn't just leave the rest of the group when he still had to give out pies and be thrown by Ralph.

But he wasn't wearing pants.

He still had a job.

But he wasn't wearing pants.

Gene cursed to himself again as he jogged back up to the apartments, quickly getting into place just in time as the quarter was placed into the game.

Mary and Roy made a quick glance over at Gene, seeing that he looked even worse than before as he was now missing his coat and had pieces of taffy and various sticks and leaves covering him.

"Um, did something happ-?"

"Not in the mood to talk about it right now…" Gene said quickly, making sure that he hadn't done so in a way that insinuated that there was rage in his voice.

"I'M GONNA WRECK IT!"

Ralph's fist broke through the wall yet again, grabbing onto Gene.

"Whoa, where in the world have you been, Genie-boy?" the wrecker chucked.

Gene faked a very horrid smile towards Ralph, wanting nothing more than to sock the man in his nose.

But he knew better than that.

"Let's just get going….."

Ralph smiled as he then tossed Gene off screen yet again, the man letting out his trade-mark yowl. As he was sailing through the air, the Nicelander felt a bit of relief coming over him. He remembered that he had destroyed most of the taffy webbing so there was no way he would come into contact with it again.

Nope, just the normal head-plant right into the trunk of a tree.

Just want he wanted to feel.

Gene closed his eyes and awaited the impending collision but as he did so he felt himself being snagged once more.

He opened his eyes and looked down.

It was taffy.

But this time….

BANANA!

To make matters worse, Gene had somehow gotten himself tangled up even worse than he was BEFORE, the man thrashing about in a hopeless desperation to free himself.

"Programmers, I'm going to run out of CLOTHES by the time the day is over!" Gene said to himself in panic, feeling that his outer shirt was now glued in with the sticky mass.

Thankfully, Gene was much too busy trying to free himself to even notice the sound of giggling coming from the bushes. A pair of hazel eyes peered at Gene, trying hard not to laugh too loud for Gene to hear.

"Oh, I have PLENTY more where that comes from, Genie-Beanie…." Vanellope said, snickering as she looked off to the side, eyeing the remaining cans of taffy she had.

By the time the day was over, Mary realized that Gene was once again missing. She darted up the apartment but when she found it empty she went to the penthouse, sure she would find him fixing himself a drink.

Nothing.

Mary looked about in concern, finding not a trace of Gene in the apartments.

"Felix?" Mary called out her friend "Oh, Felix! Please tell me you've seen Gene!"

"Not since the sixth game!" Felix replied, noticing the look of concern on Mary's face "But I'll start lookin' for him since he's been gone so long!"

"Thank you!" Mary said, bowing a bit "I don't know what I would do if something were to happen to him!"

Mary was about to go into the apartments once more but something stopped her; she knew it was against her better judgment but something told her to go look off into the woods. Granted, it wasn't like this was the first time she had gone off to the woods by herself but with Gene suddenly missing, there was a bit of fear going through her.

What if something had gotten into the game and managed to make off with Gene?

Or worse? Eat him?

No, that was silly talk!

The little woman tip-toed into the woods, holding her hands close to her chest and trying to remain brave at the moment.

"G-Gene? A-are you out here dear?"

There was a faint rustling in the bushes, the Nicelander squeaking in surprise as she jumped back.

"I-I have hat pins! Those won't feel too well if I stab you with them!" Mary piped out, taking a pin from her hat.

"Mary! IT'S ME!"

Mary stopped, moving a bit closer to the source of the sound.

"Gene?"

Mary looked closer to see the top of Gene slowly standing from the bushes but he only stood up enough so he could see his eyes and by the look of them, Gene was upset.

VERY upset.

Mary placed her hands on her hips as she glared at the man, more than a little miffed that he had stayed there the entire time.

"MAYOR NICELANDER GENE! What in the ARCADE have you been doing ALL THIS TIME?!" Mary yelled.

"I-It's not like I had a choice!" Gene stammered, ducking back into the bush.

Mary stomped towards the man, ready to grab his ear and pull him from his cover.

"Oh, don't think you can get your way out of this one, mister! You're-!"

"DON'T!" Gene shouted, pushing Mary away much to her surprise.

"What do you think you're-!?"

"Mary, look up!"

The woman stopped for a moment once she heard the tone of Gene's voice. He sounded mortified and from what little she could see of his face, the man was blushing like mad. Mary craned her neck upwards, only to discover the now rainbow-colored web of taffy….

And all of Gene's clothing, perfectly stuck and tangled in the mass.

Shoes, socks, tie, PANTS.

Everything was there.

Even his underwear.

The realization of what was going to happen hit Mary at that moment and the woman let out a loud gasp as she covered her mouth, blushing just as bright as Gene was.

"You mean-?!"

"Y-yeah…."

"Your clothes?!"

"Ah-huh…"

"A-are you na-?!"

"MARY! PLEASE!" Gene said in a horrified tone "No one else needs to know!"

Mary looked around to make sure she hadn't been followed before removing her jacket.

"Here, take this!"

Gene could only look at Mary in shock, "Oh, but you can't-!"

"I'm not going to leave you out here!"

Gene nodded as he quickly wrapped the jacket around his waist and came from being the bushes, covered in taffy of various colors. Mary couldn't help but glance up and down at the man but she then averted her eyes, blushing brighter than before.

"H-how did you manage to get yourself into this mess?"

Gene too looked away, much too humiliated to look ANYONE in the face "Er-heh….I guess it just an off day…."

"Off…" Mary echoed "Right."

Still looking away, Mary reached out for Gene's hand and took it into her own, "C-Come on. Let's get you back inside before anyone sees."

Gene just wanted to shrink away to nothing at that moment; he had never been so humiliated in his LIFE.

"Y-yes, dear…" the man said weakly, following the woman to the backdoor of the apartments.

Once the two Nicelanders were out of view, Vanellope glitched out the bush she was hiding in and fell into a mass of hysterics. She just couldn't take what she had just seen!

"Oh-oh! My sides! I-I can't breathe!" Vanellope laughed, doing so until tears came out of her eyes "This was so worth it! Every ounce of worth!"

"Big Bad Wrecker to the Ruler of Sweet!" cackled the sound of a walkie-talkie.

Vanellope turned and jumped on her walkie-talkie, making sure that it had not been heard by anyone how might have been snooping around in the woods.

"Geeez, big guy! Blow my cover why don't cha?!"

"Well, sorry for checkin' up on ya!" The wrecker said from inside the apartments "Did everything go as planned?"

"It went as planned and better!" Vanellope said over the walkie-talkie "I've got enough pictures ta last a life time as well!"

Ralph chuckled, cracking his knuckles "Perfect, just make sure ya hang onto 'em before-"

"Before WHAT, Ralph?" said Felix, appearing out of nowhere from behind the larger man.

Ralph let out a startled well as he threw the walkie-talkie out the window and turned towards his friend, a guilty smile plastered on his face.

"Oh-oh FELIX! Nice to see ya here buddy!"

"Why, yes I am here Ralph….we live here. I was just checkin' ta see if everything was alright with ya. Mary managed to find Gene, so-!"

"She DID!?" Ralph said, feigning concern as he placed his hands on his cheeks "That's WONDERFUL! For a second there, I thought he was gone…or eaten. Gone an' eaten…"

Felix arched his eyebrows at the larger man, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Now Ralph, I wasn't born yesterday. You an' Nelly have been doin' somethin' because of this entire bet thing…I just have ta figure out WHAT exactly…."

Ralph let out a booming chuckle as he placed a hand on Felix's back, leading him back into the apartments, "Felix, Felix, FELIX! Ya worry too much buddy! I promise you, this bet is goin' off fair n' square an' NOTHIN' is going to happen, okay?"

Felix huffed a bit, pouting cutely; he wasn't buying this act one bit. He knew that it was only a matter of time before something stupid was going to happen and of course, he was going to have to be there to clean up the resulting mess.

"Okay, but remember big guy, I have my eyes on ya. One wrong move an'-!"

"Felix, nothin' is gonna happen! An' if it does…then….."

Ralph hesitated for a second, rushing himself to find the perfect response.

"Then I had nothin' ta do with it so ya can't blame me."

"RALPH."

The next day, Gene woke up with a sore and aching body. Having been contorted in so many angles by the taffy webs had done a number on him.

"Gah…if I didn't have work today, I would rush to the chiropractor!" the man hissed through his teeth, cracking his back.

The man grumbled as he made his way to the bathroom, grabbing his toothpaste, but checking to make sure it was actually toothpaste and not some 'wonderful' surprise ready to come out at him. Luckily for him, no one seemed to have tampered with his property this time around.

"Ah, wonderful…" the man said as he went into the kitchen to fix himself a nice cup of coffee.

For the next hour or so, things went smoothly for the Nicelander, no bumps or hiccups to throw him off.

"Oh my programmers, this can't be real…." Nel said from down the hall.

Gene turned towards the door and peeked out, noticing that his neighbors had all collected near the elevator of his floor for some reason, each one holding a copy of the morning's paper.

"Pfft! Where did they get tha pictures for THIS?!" Norwood rang out, trying his best not to laugh.

"Has Gene seen this yet?" asked Don.

"Not that I know of…" replied Roy "But I'm sure if he does, he'll-!"

"Have I seen WHAT exactly?" Gene asked as he walked over to his friends.

The group of Nicelanders looked at each other before hiding their newspapers behind their backs.

"NOTHING!"

Gene smiled warmly as he walked over to Roy, "Come on Roy, let me see…."

Sweat began to bead on Roy's forehead as he backed away slightly, "Um, it's nothing Gene! Just some stupid story!"

"Well, Norwood was laughing so it MUST be funny!"

"Gene, ya know Norwood's an IDIOT! He'll laugh at ANYTHING!" Nel said with a forced grin.

"NEL!"

Gene tried to reach behind Roy for the paper but his neighbor wasn't even letting him near it.

"Roy! Come on! What is so bad that you won't let me see the paper?!" Gene asked, obviously flustered but not enough to break into any sort of anger.

"TRUST ME IT'S NOT-!"

Gene made a jump forward as he grabbed the paper from Roy's fingers, flipping through it and finding nothing out of the ordinary. The man chuckled as he looked over to his friend.

"What? I don't even see anything! How in the world can you be-?"

The mayor glanced down at the pages once more, a familiar sight hitting his eyes.

It was the sight of a Nicelander.

A Nicelander without clothes.

And the reason this Nicelander looked so familiar was because the Nicelander was HIM!

"Oh crud…" Nel whispered, making her way to the stairs "I ain't stayin' for this!"

Gene could do nothing more than look in utter HORROR at the picture, his naked butt winking for the camera of whoever had snapped the photo.

How did this happen?

How COULD this happen?!

Gene was beside himself with all sorts of emotions; humiliation, confusion, RAGE.

But he could do nothing to show them off.

He just stood in the hallway, his eyes wide as dinner plates as his entire body shook.

And to make things worse, he knew that the ENTIRE arcade was now opening up their papers to see a photo of a naked Nicelander Gene in black and white.

Don carefully approached the mayor, a little afraid to even put a hand on him since he didn't know if Gene would snap and try to bite it off.

"Er, you going to be okay there, private?" Don asked.

Gene stood silent for a moment….

And then fell to the ground like a three foot lead weight.

"GAH! SOMEONE GET THE SMELLING SALTS!"


	4. Chapter 4- For the Love of Pie

Chapter Four- For the Love of Pie

(Still) Day Three

After his humiliation with the newspaper, Gene refused to come out of the apartment that day but who could blame him? Everyone at Litwak's had seen Gene's birthday suit and were laughing it up all day. One could hear the guffaws and giggles from every corner of the building, from Sonic the Fighters to Galaga to even Hero's Duty.

"SARGE! SARGE! Ya gotta see this!" Mouse said, laughing up a storm with Kowalski.

"What is it that's got you guys in a-!?" Before Calhoun could even finish her words, a spray of coffee blew from her mouth.

"I-IS THAT *hack!* WHO I THINK IT IS?!"

"No I see why they call him BIG GENE!" laughed another solider.

Even the FPS couldn't help but laugh, falling on its sides after its wheels had given up on it.

Calhoun was just STUNNED. She knew that things had gone hardball but she NEVER would have expected Ralph and Vanellope to pull something like this. She had seen enough however and she crumpled the newspaper up and threw it in the trash.

"Well, I know I won't be getting sleep for the next few days."

Had anyone else been in the arcade that early in the morning, they would have heard the lovely sounds of every game character in the place yucking it up.

But of course, one game remained silent throughout the morning.

* * *

"Come on out Gene, it's not that bad!" Don said, knocking on Gene's door.

"I don't wanna…." replied the gloomy voice the mayor.

"Look, I'm sure tha whole thing is gonna blow away sooner than ya think! In fact, they shouldn't even remember this by tomorrow!" Felix said, trying his best to sound positive.

"Oh, I doubt that young man…I SEVERELY doubt that."

Felix took off his hat and ran his fingers through his head, "Does anyone have any idea on how ta get him out? Our game is about to start up soon!"

"Ya know how Gene gets when he's in one of his moods…" Nel said, hands on her hips and shaking her head "He's gonna be locked up in there for HOURS!"

"So what are we supposed ta do until then?" asked Norwood, puffing away at his pipe "Have on of US take his place?"

Everyone turned to the freckled Nicelander, giving him a look that made him realize that he had said too much.

"Programmers help us…."

"FIRST ONE, NOT IT!" yelled Blake, followed by all the other men in the room.

"Not it WHAT!?"

"Ah! Norwood, last one out! You gotta do it!" Don said, slapping his friend rather hard on the back.

"WHY NOT USE ROY! HE KINDA LOOKS LIKE GENE!?"

"No I don't…"

Nel moved behind Norwood and pushed him into place, "Come on Pum'kin, take one for the team!"

"I'd be glad ta take one for tha team!" Norwood said angrily "BUT NOT FOR THIS!"

"Too late, quarter drop!"

"W-WAIT?! SO SOON!? WHAT DO I D-?!"

"I'M GONNA WRECK IT!"

Ralph's massive fist exploded through the wall, Norwood unable to do anything but stare in utter shock.

"Aw, SH-"

The wrecker then grabbed the Nicelander from the ground, squishing him in the process.

"AURGH! MY SPINE!"

"RAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

"HOOOWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUGHH!" 

"So THAT'S what Norwood sounds like when he screams…" Deanna said, watching the red-head fly off in the distance.

"I hear it enough times. Its nothing new…" Nel replied, watching Norwood fly off into the distance, only to hear the horrible thud of his body hitting a tree off-screen.

* * *

As the day went on, Gene remained in his room, every door and window locked and all the curtains drawn. He didn't want to hear anyone, he didn't want to SEE anyone but seeing as it was a work day, he couldn't avoid the constant noise of the building being torn apart and Norwood's screams as he man went flying off towards the woods.

Though Gene did have to admit, it was nice hearing someone else screaming in terror for a change.

"OH PLEASE! NOT AGAIAAAAAAAAHOOOWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAUGH!"

Gene, wrapped in a blanket like some sort of cocoon, huddled on his bed. He reached for his remote and switched on the television.

"I-I just need to relax. One day of relaxation and I'm sure this entire thing will blow over, just like Felix said!"

The Nicelander flipped through the channels, stopping on the local Arcade news feed.

"Well, if there's one thing I know, it seems that the dress code over at Fix-it-Felix Jr. seems to be getting rather LAX!" said the first news anchor, a chortle in their voice.

"Right! As Mayor Nicelander Gene is showing us, the casual days in Niceland are REALLY casual!"

That picture.

It was EVERYWHERE.

Gene looked at the screen for a moment, laughter forming in his voice but the laughter grew, becoming a mad cackle.

"Yes, laugh at me. Laugh at my pain." The man guffawed madly, his sneer still planted on his face "It's entertaining isn't it? ISN'T IT?! That's what you want to do? Well, you're free to do it! FREE TO DO IT!" Gene screamed at the top of his lungs before grabbing the TV and hurling it out the window.

Outside, Felix was going through another round of repairs when the TV blasted from the window, nearly hitting him by mere inches.

Of course, it DID happen to hit a certain red-headed Nicelander who was crawling his way back to the apartments.

"U-uh BONUS POINTS!" Felix said, trying his best not to confuse the player, not even noticing that Norwood was now crying on the sidewalk after having respawed.

"WOW! I didn't know I got more points for dodging furniture!" the player said gleefully, having no idea what was really going on.

Gene stood by his window, panting in exhaustion but he remembered that he was still on a bet and if ANYONE caught him angry then he was through. He pinched the bridge of his nose taking deep breaths.

"Calmness, Gene….CALMNESS."

The man's head was POUNDING by this point but he suppressed it. Gene fell back on the bed, looking up at the ceiling and not moving for hours. Gene heard the sounds of the arcade slowly closing from outside the cabinet but he remained still.

The poor man was exhausted, drained of any sort of energy or will to even move at this point. Three days in and his life had turned into a complete and utter twisted chaos in which he had no power to do anything about. With each passing second, the Nicelander was beginning to regret taking on the bet, mostly because he should have known that in doing so, Ralph would try everything in his might to get the man to break.

And as much as Gene hated to admit it, he was skating dangerously close to that edge.

But he just couldn't quit, not now when he was so close.

He only had four more days. He could make it until then, he was sure of it.

At least that's what the Nicelander told himself. His heart was telling him to keep pressing forward but his brain was much too frazzled to even string a coherent thought together.

Gene dreaded the moments he would eventually have the leave the safety of his apartment. He could already hear the sounds of the jeers and the laughter, visualizing the sight of people pointing down to him. It wasn't as if the man wasn't seen as a joke already to many in the arcade but now, they had even more ammunition to throw at him.

"Just four more days Gene, just four more days…."

* * *

Day Four

Gene hardly got a wink of sleep that night for his mind was filled with too much worry to even relax. As the clock ticked in the wee hours of the twilight, Gene saw that he had no choice but to get up and get up he did.

He lumbered to the bathroom, cleaning himself up though he did so as if his body were put in slow-motion. He didn't even stop to shave, just washing up and putting on a top and slacks. He walked down the hallway as quietly as he could, as not to disturb anyone. Everyone must have still been asleep but as he rounded the corner, he noticed a little sliver of light coming from Mary's door.

"Hmm?"

The mayor approached closer, hearing the faint sound of scissors cutting paper.

"Stupid paper!" Mary said to herself in a gruff tone, clearly fed-up with something.

Gene knocked on the woman's door, turning the handle slowly as he let himself in.

"Ms. Mary?"

Mary let out a yelp as she jumped from the couch, surprised to see Gene standing at her door.

"O-OH! MAYOR GENE!"

Gene took a step forward, a hand in front of him "Sorry for bursting in like this but,-!"

"Er, it's good to see that you're well…" Mary said bashfully.

"Th-thank you, dear. I hope your day wasn't too difficult without me…"

"Oh, it was no trouble at ALL, Gene! We got along FINE without you!"

Mary the realized what she said, looking at Gene who now appeared as if she had just shot him in the heart.

"I mean! There was no trouble but I-I mean, WE missed you!"

The two looked at each for a moment or two before turning away, both blushing brightly.

Gene then tilted his head to get a glance into Mary's apartment; it was filled with newspapers and trash bags.

"Eh, new hobby?"

Mary looked back before returning her eyes towards Gene, turning even redder than before.

"Oh….that. Um, that is just the results of the escapade that Felix and some of us had last night…"

Gene blinked in surprised; so Felix had helped Mary out as well?

"You wouldn't believe how long it took us to get this many papers! And the amount of time we spent cutting out and shredding the article itself! My hands still hurt from cutting!" Mary said, rubbing her sore knuckles.

"You-you mean you did this ALL for me?!" Gene said in shock, taking Mary's hands into his own, holding them gently "Can you even bake now?!"

"Gene! I'm alright! I'm not going to let a little soreness stop me from-!"

"Oh, this is all my fault! If I just had taken everything like someone with SENSE, you and the others would have never had to do all of this!" Gene said, a frantic look on his face.

"Gene, I said it was alright…."

"No, it's NOT alright!" the man sighed "Mary, how about this? Since you did everything for me…why don't I take care of your pie duties for today?"

"Take on MY duties? But…but what about your pies?"

"I can do it! I mean, I might be mayor but you know how I can handle anything when it comes to food!"

The Nicelander in purple couldn't help but let a little cheeky grin appear on her face, "Oh yes! Considering how big your appetite is, it shouldn't surprise me that you know so much about food!"

The mayor gave a smug smile and ran his fingers through his hair "Well, I can't brag!"

Gene then realized he had walked into a trap, giving the woman an annoyed pout. Mary responded by gently tapping the man on the nose.

"Ah, you ARE back!"

Gene couldn't stay angry at Mary and he did have to admit that he walked right into her joke. For the first time in a while, an honest smile began to spread on the man's face, happiness swelling inside of him. But he still had a job to do and he wasn't going to waste another moment lingering on it.

"Just make yourself comfortable my dear! I'll take care of everything!"

Gene then strolled into the kitchen, pulling out bowls and ingredients as he tied an apron around his chubby frame. With everything laid out in front of him, the man rubbed his hands together and smiled.

"Don't worry Mary my dear! I shall have a collection of pies cooked up in no time!"

As Mary watched Gene make pies, she was astounded by what she saw. This was the first time in their thirty years that she had actually observed him in the kitchen and needless to say, what she saw was astounding, at least compared to her own baking skills. He was floating around like some sort of magical baking butterfly, mixing the flour and eggs, rolling out the dough and cutting and slicing apples as if it were nothing to him, all the while whistling a tune and looking as if he had not a care in the world.

Gene seemed to find himself complete bliss in the kitchen and after several days of stress and annoyances, Mary was glad to see him so happy. She just couldn't believe how fast he was going. Did he even realize what he was doing or was he stuck on auto-pilot at this point?

Apples were being sliced, dough was being crimped and folded into place, and by the time they were pulled from the oven, they were perfectly golden-brown, their luscious smell filling the entire apartment. Whether he knew it or not, Gene was creating art.

An edible, delicious art.

By the time the sun peeked in through the windows of the arcade, Gene was done. Mary looked astounded at the massive piles of pies before her.

ONE person had done this and they had done it in the same amount of time it would have taken her to make a third of the pies! Gene heard the timer go off as he took out two more pies, taken in by their sweet smell.

"Ah, perfection…."

"Goodness Gene, are you baking for the game or for the entire arcade?" Mary said with a chuckle.

The little man looked around, realizing that he MIGHT have gone a smidge overboard with his baking.

"Oh. Well, it is best to always be prepared!" Gene said in a rather haughty tone, placing the pies back on the counter.

"Ah-huh. I think you made enough to last another thirty years?" Mary said, looking in awe at the pies "Or is this just a snack for you?"

"Aw come on, now! I know I like sweets but I'm not THAT gree-!"

Mary then took one of the freshly baked pies and cut a slice, putting the piece into Gene's mouth and halting his chatter.

"Shush. I was just joking, dear."

"Mmmph."

Once again he had let Mary tease him, he didn't care one bit. He was in such a peaceful state that he didn't mind her teasing or the fact that he might have embarrassed himself once more by baking too many times.

If there was one part of the bet that he was enjoying, it was THIS.

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

"Who is it?"

"It's Meg, Mary. We just wanted to know if Gene was actually coming out today!"

"TELL 'IM I AIN'T NOT PICKIN' UP HIS SLACK ANYMORE!" yelled Norwood from the hallway.

"Norwood."

Gene let out a little chuckle, making his way towards the door "I better go talk to Norwood before he's the next one to have a breakdown."

Both Nicelanders made their way out the door, unaware that someone was watching them from afar. Hidden in the stairs was one Vanellope Von Schweetz, the racer carefully watching the group of Nicelanders and waiting for her opportunity to strike.

"Okay, Mayor Big-Booty. Just go out with your friends an' don't mind me! I'm a widdle girl, I dun wanna do anythin'!"

The racer watched as the group of adults made their way down the stairs and disappeared from sight.

"All clear…."

Vanellope looked up and down both ends of the hallway, glitching to-and-fro, a rather large wheeled carrier following her. She snickered once she made her way in front of the apartment door, a devilish grin playing on her face. She then closed her eyes and….

GLITCH!

With a blink, she was inside the mayor's apartment.

"Sqqqk! Raaaalph, I have infiltrated the apartment! I am awaiting your orders!"

"Ha, ha. Very funny squirt. Just tell me ya have the pies ready!" Ralph said on the other end.

"Just tell ME you're not gonna chuck this walkie-talkie out the window like you did the LAST time!"

"Hey, was it MY fault that Felix caught me a bad time?"

"Sorry stink-breath! I can't waste any more time! I'll alert ya if anythin' else happens!"

"Just make sure you're in the right apartment o-!"

"What was that?! I can't hear ya! Oh no! RALPH!? RAPLH?! RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALPH!"

"I'm still here…."

Vanellope then switched off her walkie-talkie as she made her way

She made her way through the apartment, glitching right past the door and into the kitchen. As her eyes looked upon the mountain of pies, the girl's mouth nearly hit the floor. She felt so tiny compared to the enormous stack.

"Holy monkey milk!" the racer said as she looked around "I bet even Candlehead would have a hard time scarfin' down all these pies!"

The girl looked at the counter, seeing that the piles of pies were separated into two bunches, one with a note that said 'For Mary' while the other was went unlabeled.

Clearly, Gene had written the notes which only made Vanellope's job easier. She only had to switch up Gene's pies and everything would be alright. Vanellope went to her carrier and flipped the latch, revealing-!

Even more pies?

The girl took the first one into her hands, cackling evilly.

"I'm sure you've never tasted a pie like THIS before, Genie! Mwahahahaha!"

She stopped, pondering for a moment.

"I need to work on my evil laugh. It just doesn't sound cool enough when you don't have lightening behind ya!"

Vanellope began to replace Gene's pies with her own, making sure that she only placed the new pies on his side as not to get them mixed up with Mary's.

"So tha taffy webbin' didn't work? Maybe this will!"

Once all the pies had been replaced, Vanellope prepared to leave the apartment but as she did so, she noticed one last pie. This one had just been taken out of the oven only moments before she arrived and was still piping hot and warm with all the ooey-gooey goodness that could only come from a pastry that had just been taken from the oven. The smell was becoming overpowering to the racer, her mouth watering and her stomach growling.

"Fight the urge, Nelly! Fight the urge! YA ALREADY HAVE PIES IN HERE!"

But those had cooled down and didn't have the same goodness!

"Stop it Vanellope! It's just PIE!"

But it was GOOD pie! Pie that shouldn't be wasted!

The girl growled as she tried to turn away but unable to help herself, she grabbed the pie.

"Ow! OH! HOT!"

And as she turned with the hot pan in her hand, her long pony tail brushed the note off the counter top.

Finally able to handle the warm pan, Vanellope made a dash for the door.

"One less pie won't bother Gene! I mean, he made so MANY of them!"

As it turned out, Vanellope had escaped just in time. The Nicelanders were making their way back to their apartments, Gene and Mary conversing happily the entire time.

"Well, I'm glad you worked things out with Norwood." Mary said happily.

"I did the best that I could, considering the mood that he was in!" Gene said, whistling "I never knew Norwood to be the one to say such profanities."

The two entered the apartment, getting ready for the crowd of gamers would arrive soon enough. Gene went back to the kitchen and began to count the pies.

"Hmm, one off…." The man said as he rubbed his chin "Strange, I was sure that I made an even number of pies that could be split between us."

It had to be the stress that threw him off. What other reason could there be for a missing pie?

"Mary?"

"Yes, dear?" Mary called from her bedroom.

"We seem to have a problem with the pies! One of mine seems to be missing!"

Mary peeked from around the corner, a smile on her face "Oh Gene, why is that a problem? Just take one of mine!"

Gene smiled as he took one of the pies from what he THOUGHT was Mary's pile and placed it onto his own.

"Well, that's better now!"

"Here, let me help you with that!" Mary said as she took an armful of pies and helped Gene carry them back to his own apartment, neither Nicelander having a care in the world or even expecting what was to happen to both of them.

* * *

"Is everyone ready?" chirped Felix, flexing his arms and gearing up his hammer.

"All ready!" cheered the Nicelanders, excited for the first morning's run.

"I'm just happy to see that you're ready for this again!" Mary whispered to Gene from her window.

The mayor snickered again, subconsciously rubbing his mustache "Why wouldn't I be? It's my job!"

"Bite it, Gene," Norwood grumbled from above, glaring down at his so-called friend.

"I love you too, Norwood!" Gene quipped.

The games were about to begin again! Everyone was in their places!

And not too far away in a little bush, away from the prying eyes of the Nicelanders, someone else was in their place as well.

"Ah, now THAT was a good pie!" Vanellope said, laying comfortably on the grass after having finished off one of Gene's pies, so surprised that it tasted as good as it looked.

Sitting back into place, the little racer grinned; she couldn't wait to watch the excitement that was about to unfold before her!

The quarter alert sounded as everyone got into place.

Like clockwork.

Ralph comes in.

He roars.

Gene is grabbed and thrown.

Felix bounces in.

As always.

Vanellope watched as Gene jogged his way back to the apartment, teeming with glee as she couldn't wait for him to find the little SURPRISE in his pies. She rubbed her hands together, giggling cheekily.

"I can't wait ta hear him-!"

"Hello?"

Vanellope looked around. Where in the world had that voice come from?

"Vanellope? Are you there?"

That wasn't Ralph's voice! Vanellope looked around the area, just to make sure she wasn't going nuts, turning to see the red light on her walkie-talkie was on. She picked up the device, looking at it curiously.

"Uh, YES mysterious voice I am hearin'! I am here but who are YOU?"

"It's Swizz!"

"Swizz?" the racer said in a surprised voice, ducking behind the bush "How in the world did you get on this frequency?!"

"Ya do realize that ya took MY walkie-talkies, right? I reworked those things so I could listen in anywhere!" the boy said rather proudly.

"Uh, should I be WORRIED about that or-?"

"Listen, Nel. I'm only callin' ya to ask ya somethin'!" Swizz said on the other end, sounding a bit worried.

Vanellope rolled her eyes; she didn't want to be disturbed at this moment! She had a show to watch!

"Listen Swizz, can ya make this fast! I'm busy over here so-!"

"Did you take my bucket of Pop Rocks? The BLUE ones?"

The racer felt a twinge go up her spine; Uh-oh.

"Eeeeeeer, not that I know of! I mean, what use would I have for POP ROCKS at a time like this!" she laughed nervously "Buuuut, in the case that I DO happen to find 'em, er, what should I do with 'em?"

"Do with 'em?! Don't do anythin' with 'em!"

"Excuse me?"

"Nelly, those were a bad batch of rocks I was tryin' ta experiment for some of our power-ups!"

"A-a bad BATCH, eh? Um, how bad is this bad?"

There was a moment of silence between the two which of course worried Vanellope.

"Ya took 'em, DIDN'T ya?"

"Swizzle Malarkey! I did NOT take your Pop Rocks! But as your president, tell me what will happen should they fall in my-I MEAN- someone else's hands!"

"Okay, okay! I rigged them up so they would have three times as much poppin' force as they usually do!"

Vanellope's face paled a bit, "Th-th-three times?!"

"Yeah, but…"

"But? What is this BUT? This BUT doesn't sound good!"

"But, they didn't have three times the power!" Swizz finally replied.

The racer let out a breath of relief, falling back to the ground, "Whew! Swizz, ya had me worried there for a moment! I guess they're just duds or somethin'? Maybe they melt instead of pop?"

"Nope. They explode with TEN times the force."

At that moment, Vanellope could have exploded herself once she heard the facts. Instead, she dropped her walkie-talkie to the ground, a frightened grin creeping on her face.

She knew she had done it now.

"Nelly? Nelly are ya there?"

"Oh…SOUR BALLS."

* * *

Once Gene had finally made it back to his apartment, he ran right back to his pie pile, grabbing one of the pastries and readying himself to hand it over to Felix. Before he did, he took out the pocket watch that Mary had given him, looking at the time.

"Heh! I actually beat my record getting here! I must be in better shape than I thought!" the man chuckled to himself.

Gene felt his apartment quake as Ralph climbed higher and higher up the building. Felix would be coming up any times soon, so it was only a matter of time.

"Okay, things are running as they should so far! Just have to give Felix his pie and continue on with the program!"

The mayor held the pie in his hands, a smile appearing on his face when and odd sound hit his ears.

Was it….hissing?

The man then lowered the pie so he could get a better look at it. Something was definitely off; the crust looked different and for some reason, the pastry felt a lot heavier than it should have been. Rightfully confused, the man poked the top of the pie with his finger only to be even more weirded out when it began to emit a strange, sweet smelling blue smoke.

"Wait, I made APPLE! This doesn't smell like AP-!"

KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The entire floor shook from the explosion, causing some of the Nicelanders to drop their pies to the ground!

"What in the world?!"

"Oh PROGRAMMERS! THE GAME IS FINALLY SHORTING OUT!" hollered Roy at the top of his lungs.

"ROY! We're still in-game! Shut UP!"

Back in the mayor's apartment, the entire area that Gene had once stood was completely covered in sugary bits of pie gunk, the mayor himself sitting in the middle of his, his once clean suit now ruined. The man was more confused than angry at this point, the only thing on his mind being what FLAVOR this pie happened to be considering it was now everywhere. Gene took a bit of the pie goo onto his finger and tasted it; sweet, sugary, with a small hint of tartness from some crazy, made up flavor. It tasted nice but this wasn't the apple pie he tasted before. If anything, it tasted more like it was made from the same types of candy in….

"SUGAR RUSH…." The man growled through his teeth.

Ralph and Vanellope had struck again!

That was it! He was going to have a stern word to both characters, bet or no bet!

The man picked himself up and wiped off as much pie crust as he could, stomping towards the door but as he did, an important detail entered his brain; what about the other pies?

Gene grabbed a yard-stick from his desk and poked the pies in front of him, awaiting another blast but after a few seconds, he was met with nothing. The man sighed in relief.

"I guess it was just one?"

Or was it?

The mayor then remembered that while he was gathering pies, the labeled that he had used to divide his pies with Mary was missing.

And if Ralph and Vanellope were playing tricks on him he knew that one pie wouldn't be enough for him.

But the rest of his pies were duds!

He then remembered that he had taken a pie from what he thought was Mary's pile but what if-?

What if he had actually taken HER pile instead of his own?!

Gene let out a loud gasp, nearly jumping a foot in the air.

"NO!"

Like a flash, Gene took off for Mary's apartment, hoping that he would get there in time before she too would come into contact with some of the exploding pies but just as he entered….

"Dear, are you alright?!" Mary said in a concerned voice, an exploding pie in her hand.

"PUT THE PIE DOWN!"

"Um, what?" Mary said, accidentally pumping the bottom of the tin with the sill. As soon as she did, the pie began to smoke and hiss.

"Um? DEAR?!"

Too late.

"GET DOWN!"

Before he even knew what he was doing, Gene ran forward and tackled Mary to the ground, the woman crying out in shock as she hit the floor and was shielded by Gene. The pie she was holding flew out of her hands and went sailing towards some of the others that were stacked nearby.

"G-GENE?! WHAT IS-!?"

It only took a moment, but there was no stopping it now.

The pie landed with a wet SPLAT onto the others and as soon as it came into contact, it exploded messily, showering the entire room with goop. Mary yelped as she ducked behind Gene, the man getting even messier than before.

"What in the-?!"

But it wasn't over yet. The first pie had only jostled the other and then began to rain down on the two. Soon, the other pies began to explode, setting off one of the messiest (albeit tastiest) chain-action explosions in history! One after another, a loud explosion rang out, shaking the entire apartment and flinging pie filling out of the windows!

Back outside the game, the player couldn't help but wonder what was going on. Felix was fine and there were no lives lost but they couldn't keep their eyes of the tiny window that was emitting blue smoke as pies shoot out of it.

"Er, is this some sort of hidden animation?"

Thankfully, the massive pie explosion finally stopped, smoke billowing from the windows and a deluge of pie slime dripping from the sill of Mary's apartment. Unable to just stop and check, Felix could only peer down at the mess before looking back up at Ralph.

"I guess you didn't have a hand in this?" the repair man whispered.

Ralph was just as stunned as Felix but he looked off to the side, spotting Vanellope in one of the far away bushes, the racer pulling at her hair in panic.

"Aw man, Nelly! What did you DO?!"

Vanellope was running around in circles in panic by now, dreading the moment she would have to fess up to what she had done.

She didn't want the entire apartment to explode! Just give Gene a little pie face, that's all!

"And Swizz thought this was a GOOD idea?! What would happen if we ATE that stuff?!"

* * *

Gene was covered from head to toe in pie goo, hovering over Mary who was huddled up into a little ball, clutching onto the man's sides for protection. Sugar Berry and Pop-Rock goo covered the entire apartment from floor to ceiling, the remnants dripping from every corner. The little Nicelander peeked out from under Gene, taking in all the damage that had been done to her apartment.

"MY LIVING ROOM!"

She looked over to the kitchen where the other pies were kept, seeing only one huge mess.

"MY KITCHEN!"

Mary then looked up at Gene only to lay eyes upon a small, chubby figure covered in some sort of pink sludge.

"My goodness…."

Gene opened his eyes as he looked down at Mary but as he looked into the reflection of the window, the only thing that met his eyes was a chubby little round thing, covered from head to toe in some sort of pink and blue goo.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" cried Gene as he wiped the syrup and pie crust from his eyes "I look like I belong in the sewer level of another game!"

"Gracious! I knew your pies had something in them Gene, but I never imagined that!" Mary said as she picked herself up.

"My pies?! Those were NOT my pies!" Gene yelled in frustrations, teetering rather close on the edge of getting too angry.

Mary looked around, still taking in the damage that had been done "Then who-?!"

"Don't worry about it!" Gene cut in, trying to get pie crust out of his mustache "Just go and clean yourself up! I'll be right back!"

Mary nodded as she went off to the bathroom. As soon as she had left his sight, Gene let out a frustrated growl and kicked one of the waste baskets in the room.

Oh, how he wanted to explode at that moment. How he wanted to give a certain wrecker a good talk to.

And now he was going to do it!

"You can attack ME, but getting Mary mixed up into this?! BIG MISTAKE!" the Nicelander growled, storming out of the apartment.

The man didn't care HOW ridiculous he looked now. He had to find Ralph and Vanellope and just as he made his way to elevator, the two very people he was looking for suddenly appeared in front of him as the doors opened.

The three looked at each other for a moment or two, pie still dripping from Gene's suit.

"H-Hi, Gene! I'm glad to see you're okay!" Ralph said nervously.

"Okay? Is THAT all you have to say?" Gene answered his voice deepening a bit.

"Y-Yeah! I was sure those pies would do ya in considerin' how powerful they were!" Vanellope said, twiddling her fingers.

The little Nicelander began to huff, his tiny hands balling into fist as he took another step forward.

"Listen you two…" he said in the least angry tone he could muster at the moment "I was being easy on you by not saying anything when you started playing your little tricks but now? NOW you have gone too far!"

"We know! We know, it's just-!"

"NO, no, no. Let me FINISH." Gene butted in, putting his hands on his sides "Are you aware that you could have hurt Ms. Mary as well with your little stunt? Her apartment was FILLED with pies that we shared and what if they went off before I got to her?!"

Gene stopped. He knew he was getting too angry so he calmed himself before looking back up at the two.

"If anything would have happened to her, I don't know WHAT I would have done…."

Ralph and Vanellope exchanged looks of worry on their face; they still hated to know that they had dragged others into their little spar with Gene and they knew the first thing they had to do, as much as they didn't want to, was apologize.

"We're sorry…" both said.

Gene looked at the two. He didn't want to believe it at first, but he could tell that they were being truthful in their apology and as mad as he was at the moment, he just couldn't bring himself to yell at them anymore. He let out a frustrated groan, a hand placed on his forehead.

"You two…..just….URGH."

"Um, we can help clean up…" Vanellope said softly, giving Gene a hopeful smile. "I mean, I can help clean up that is for now. I know Ralph is still on duty but since I let the others take my place in the roster, I'm free all day!"

"An-an once the work day is over, I'll take over from there!" Ralph said, trying to get back onto Gene's good-side for the moment.

"YES. That would be a GOOD idea." The mayor said as he lead the two to the broom closet "Just be careful, okay? Some of the things in Mary's apartment are valuable to her so-!"

Before Gene could even finish, Ralph broke the broom accidentally between his large fingers. The mayor felt another twinge of anger form in him but he once again kept it down. This didn't stop him from giving the man a sharp glare but Vanellope jumped in at the nick of time before things could escalate any further.

"I GOT IT MR. MAYOR! JUST LEMME-!"

"Forget it…" Gene mumbled as he snatched the broken pieces from Ralph "Just…just do whatever it is you two do. I'LL clean up this mess."

"By yourself?" asked a baffled Vanellope.

Gene didn't lay an eye on Vanellope, instead trying to reach a bottle of cleaning fluid though he was much too short to reach it "Yes."

Ralph stepped in, helping Gene reach some of the other cleaning supplies "Are ya sure ya don't want Felix to-?"

Again, Gene averted his eyes but it was easy to tell he was upset "I don't want to disturbed him."

"But-!"

Gene gripped the handle of the cleaning bucket, starting down at his feet "PLEASE?"

Vanellope and Ralph jumped a bit once they heard the harshness in Gene's tone. The little man turned around, a blank look on his face.

"I SAID I DON'T need any help. Can't you listen to me, ONCE?"

Ralph nodded, folding his arms across his chest, "Yes, sir…."

The two watched as Gene took the cleaning supplies back to Mary's apartment, feeling a tad bit guilty for what had happened before them. At first, playing tricks on Gene during the bet was fun; who couldn't resist pulling one over on Gene?

Now however, they knew things had gone a tad too far, especially since the last prank, despite not being Vanellope's true intentions, had almost hurt Mary in the process, someone they had no ill will towards.

Guilt has a funny way of working through people and the guilt the two were feeling was telling them that perhaps it would be best if they STOPPED their shenanigans.

"Callin' it?" Vanellope said sadly, looking up at Ralph.

"Yeah, it's not worth it anymore…." The giant man huffed, putting his hands in his overall pockets.

The two then made their way back to the elevator, only to hear a frustrated scream coming from one of the other apartments.

This time it wasn't Gene; it was Norwood.

Since Gene was going to be busy cleaning, SOMEONE had to take his spot again.

"WHAT DO YA MEAN I HAVE TO TAKE HIS PLACE AGAIN?!"

"Norwood, please!"

"AW NAH! AW NAH! I AAAAAAAAAAAAAAIN'T HAVIN' THIS SH-!"

"There are children in the apartment!"

* * *

Mary had kept to herself after Gene had left earlier and when she came back from her shower, seeing Gene scrubbing at the walls, she offered a hand of help. The man of course said no, going back to his cleaning. Perhaps this was a way to ease the tension that the man had held within him but whatever the reasons, Mary knew it best not to disturb him. Even she could tell that he was teetering on the edge of something. Even when she offered him tea or dinner, the man wouldn't stop; he continued to clean in silence, scrubbing up pie crust and filling from every nook and cranny that was in the disaster area. The little woman slinked off to her room, feeling a tad uncomfortable but she soon fell asleep, still worried about the man who was furiously cleaning away not too far from her.

Sometime later in the night, Mary awoke.

2 am.

She tip-toed into the hall, amazed to see that the kitchen and living room were as clean as a whistle, both areas having gone through Gene's obsessive cleaning routine.

Where was Gene?

The woman heard a soft snoring sound from the couch, peeking over it to see Gene fast asleep, much too tired to even make it back to his own bed. Mary put a hand to her heart as she looked down at the sleeping mayor, adjusting the pillow his head was on to make him more comfortable. She would thank the man when he woke up later that morning but she couldn't help but worry about his sudden calmness throughout the entire ordeal.

She knew Gene much too well. This wasn't him at all.

Since the week began, Gene's luck seemed to be getting worse and worse to the point where it was just plain ridiculous but she and the others knew that Gene wouldn't take such things happening to him sitting down. He would have gone to all the games in the arcade just to figure out who the culprit was, fuming and yelling the entire way.

But this? This wasn't the Gene she knew.

Sure, she wanted Gene to be CALM but this was a bit too calm. Gene seemed like he was just taking everything that was happening to him without complaint and without any ways of defending himself. Even if she were placed in the same situation, she would have said SOMETHING, not just let things slide for the sake of remaining calm.

Something was up, but she just didn't know what.

And she knew she had to find out soon before things got worse.


	5. Chapter 5- Confession

Chapter Five- Confession

Day 5

As the Nicelanders were getting ready for their daily jobs, Mary had her mind on something else. The little woman made her way through her kitchen, preparing a breakfast of eggs, blueberry muffins and strong coffee; all of Gene's favorites.

The smell soon reached the sleeping Mayor's nose and he awoke with a start, at first panicking that someone had broken into HIS apartment and was tiddling away with his food.

"GAH! WHOEVER YOU ARE! I'M ARMED!"

This was a lie of course, though who knew what a man could do with a few bottles of liquor aimed at someone's skull.

In his panic, the mayor tumbled off the couch and fell on the floor. After a moment or two, it soon hit him that the rose colored paint on the walls wasn't something he had picked out and he was instead in Mary's apartment. He pulled himself up, looking a might embarrassed as he had once again made himself look the fool in front of the woman. To his shock, and his relief, Mary didn't seem to mind, having laid out the spread for the mayor on the table.

"Good morning." The woman said gently as she waved a hand towards one of the seats.

Gene looked at the table and the looked back his beloved Mary, a look of guilt coming on his face.

"You know, you didn't have to do this for me…."

"What better way to pay back someone who spent all night cleaning my apartment?" the woman said with a chortle.

Gene looked over towards the counter, noticing that there seemed to be an extra helping of breakfast wrapped up.

"Who is that for?"

Mary blinked, turning her head slightly "I need to meet with someone today. Just for a chat."

"Dear, who is it? Is something wrong?" Gene asked, a little surprised.

"Oh, no, no, no! Everything is fine! I just need to…to clear some business!"

"Are you sure you don't need me to go wi-?!"

"Gene, sit down and eat. You've been through so much this week that a little relaxation is just what you need!" the woman cut in, forcing Gene into his seat and putting a knife and fork into his hands.

"But I-!"

"No more talk! Just eat before your breakfast gets cold!" Mary said "I'll be right back."

Gene blushed brighter than ever as he watched Mary go out the door; he couldn't help but worry what exactly was going on.

"Hopefully I didn't drag her into this mess…" the man said to himself, digging into his breakfast.

* * *

"Well, time for another round…" Ralph said as he pulled up his tattered overalls.

Knock, knock, knock!

"Be right there in a sec!" the wrecker said as he lumbered his way to the door. At first he was expecting to be greeted by Felix so it was only expected that the man be shocked to find Mary standing before him, the wrapped breakfast still in her hands.

"Good morning Ralph."

"Oh! Miss Mary, what a surprise!" Ralph said cheerfully, showing her the way in "What brings you all the way over to the brick pile?"

Without saying a word, Mary set the breakfast down on Ralph's dining table "Just thought you would like something good to start the day."

"Well…." Ralph replied, unsure of what to think of the gift and a little nervous due to the tone in Mary's voice "Th-thank ya!"

Mary nodded as she sat down but being so small, her legs couldn't reach the ground and her head barely made it to the top of the table.

"Here, lemme get that…." Ralph said, bringing some books over to elevate Mary.

The little gave the wrecker a nod, her eyes not leaving him as he prepared to eat the breakfast that she had prepared for him. With her eyes going into him, Ralph felt a chill go down his spine, the same type of chill one gets when they know something bad is about to happen.

And when you're in trouble with Nicelander Mary, of all people, you know you're in trouble!

Ralph couldn't even eat his breakfast, knowing her eyes were still on him. He HAD to say something.

"Ms. Mary? Did I do something wrong?"

"No, at least I don't THINK you did…." Mary replied, still looking right at Ralph.

"Then, there HAS to be a reason why you're hear and brought me this…" the wrecker replied.

"Oh, come, come young man. You know I would have brought you breakfast regardless if anything was happening…."

"But I can tell something is up. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to feel your gaze trying to destroy the very foundation of my coding!" the big man tried to joke, a poor attempt to hide that Mary's eyes were in fact creeping him out a little.

Mary sighed as she finally looked away, becoming a bit more worried at this point.

"Ralph…..is there something going on between you and Gene?"

Ralph nearly bit off the tip of his fork; had he been found out?

"W-what? Of course not! I mean….I, er." Ralph stuttered, trying his best to avert his eyes away from the woman and instead went back to eating his breakfast.

Mary shook her head as her expression changed, becoming more miffed than anything else.

"Raaaalph, you know how I feel about fibbing." the woman said "I hate when my friends fib and right now, I can tell you're lying through your teeth. There IS something going on, isn't there?"

Ralph couldn't take the guilt any longer, especially with the way that Mary was looking at him. The man rubbed the back of his neck, trying his best to figure out a way to explain the bet to the Nicelander but he knew that any way he went about it, he was in trouble.

Might as well bite the bullet now.

The man sighed heavily, slouching a bit in his seat, "Y-yeah. There is somethin' goin' on….but it's not bad, I assure you!"

"Oh? Then care to explain why bad things have been happening to Gene all week?" Mary retorted, her voice a little gruff.

"That….well…." Ralph paused again, feeling a lump form in his throat "Ya see, Gene an' I made this bet."

"A bet?"

"Y-yeah. See, he's not supposed to get angry all week an' if he wins, then…then, well we can't say that he DOESN'T have the ability to not get angry!"

"And what if YOU win?" Mary asked, leaning forward and folding her hands together.

"If I won, Gene would give me some of his gummie bear vodka, that's it!"

"Oh? That's it? Well, RALPH. From what has been happening, it doesn't seem like that's it at all!"

"Um…."

"First, there was that taffy web that caused Gene to lose all his clothing, then there was those HORRIBLE pictures of him in the Arcade papers! And yesterday?! The exploding pies?! Do you mind explaining THAT?!"

Ralph rubbed the bridge of his nose; he had a feeling some of those tricks that he played would come back to bite him in the butt and they had done so in the form of a three foot woman with a purple dress. On any other given day, Ralph might not have felt bad about playing a trick or two on Gene but considering how upset Mary was getting, it was obvious that perhaps he and Vanellope had gone too far.

"Y-yeah….That was me an' Vanellope…."

"VANELLOPE WAS IN ON THIS?! WHY WOULD SHE-?!"

"Look, Ms. Mary! Please don't get mad at the kid!" Ralph cut in, putting his hands up "I dragged her into this! She wouldn't have known anything about the bet had I not opened my big mouth about it!"

"But she still went along with you and she still-!"

"SHE'S SORRY TOO!" Ralph blurted, wanting to protect his friend as much as he could "We both talked to Gene yesterday and-!"

"Wait….he knows?" the woman blurted, looking even more surprised.

Ralph nodded again, hoping that Mary would believe him this time.

If Gene had known that Ralph and Vanellope were tricking him the entire time, why didn't he say anything about it? Why didn't he TELL her? Why didn't he tell ANYONE?

"I think…I think from the start, Gene knew it was us but to save face, he didn't say anything. But because he DIDN'T, Nelly an' I just kept goin' an' goin' an'….we let it get go to our heads."

Mary frowned, something that Ralph didn't see too much and was rather taken aback by. But there was something else in her eyes.

He could tell that she was hurt but trying her very best to hide it. Seeing this only made Ralph feel even worse for what he had done.

"Y-Yes, you did!" Mary said, her voice breaking a bit "And I hope….I HOPE you two at least give Gene the benefit of the doubt and stop trying to egg him into anger. Think about it Ralph, if the tables were FLIPPED. If Gene bet YOU not to get angry, do you think HE would try to break you by pulling stunts?!"

Ralph thought for a second; sure, Gene might have SNARKED him throughout the entire ordeal, much to his nature, but playing pranks? Gene wasn't the cheating type!

Snappy and hot-headed, yes. But a CHEATER? No.

The giant man groaned as he leaned back, rubbing his temples, "I got ya Mary…..it was a stupid move on my part an' I apologize for that."

"Are you going to tell GENE that or are you telling me?" Mary asked, a confused look on her face.

"Actually, to both of you…."

"W-wait, wh-?"

"Because…" Ralph turned his head and chuckled, trying his best not to smile too much as he thought about what he was going to say "Because I can tell ya care for the lil guy, that's why."

Mary blushed deeply, but she couldn't deny that what Ralph was saying was true.

"Look, the entire time I was jokin' with Gene, as much fun as it was, I was only thinkin' about HOW he was gonna suffer for it an' I didn't even think about what would happen if things went too far. I also didn't think about how YOU would react to seein' him get humiliated like that."

The look on Ralph's face became more sincere, as if to show Mary that he had nothing against either at this point.

"You've been worried sick, I can tell….an' for your sake AND his, Nelly an' I agreed that we're gonna let this bet go on its own course."

Mary didn't know what to think at this point, as her mind had zoned out once she realized that Ralph knew how she felt about Gene.

Was it really that obvious?

Of course it was!

All this time, EVERYONE in the arcade saw how Mary went about snuggling and teasing Gene. She was hopelessly infatuated with the man!

But why was it so embarrassing now? It had never gotten to her before. Perhaps it was because Ralph had finally spelt it out to her and the fact that he seemed to find the notion of the two going out adorable.

Needless to say, Ralph did see Mary blush brighter than she had ever in his thirty years of knowing her. For a moment or two, the wrecker thought he had said something to offend the woman and he quickly tried to clear up the conversation.

"I'm sorry Ms. Mary! I didn't say somethin' ta offend ya, did I?!"

Mary snapped out of her stupor and looked up at Ralph, seeing that he was clearly concerned for her. Still blushing like mad and still embarrassed, the woman waved a hand and forced a giggle.

"O-oh, no! I'm fine! Just…just a little….."

Mary knew she couldn't work her way out of this one; Ralph had already said what was on her mind so why deny it?

"Look, young man. I'm sorry if I seemed upset a few moments ago but I just don't want anything to happen to Gene. He looks like he's about to go off the edge if something else explodes in his face!"

The woman paused, wringing her hands.

"And I don't want anything to happen to someone I love…." She said in a squeak, still a little embarrassed.

Ralph smiled warmly as he put a finger under Mary's chin, lifting her head up.

"Look, I promise you that nothin' else will happen to Gene on my watch, during the bet an' after!"

Ralph smirked a bit as he rubbed his chin.

"Well, unless I'm feelin' a lil cheeky an' I think the man deserves a good prank!"

"RALPH!" Mary said with wide, scared eyes.

"Just jokin'!" the man chuckled.

Mary sighed as she hopped off the books and onto the floor, "I'm sorry if I came off as a nag this morning Ralph but…I was just concerned."

"Awww, there's no problem at all, Ms. Mary!"

The woman nodded, a small but weak smile forming on her face.

"Do you promise you'll let Gene go through this on his own? I mean, even if he doesn't win, will you just let things run its course?"

"I promise!" the man said, holding a hand to his heart.

The smile on Mary's face grew a bit, feeling a sense of safety once she saw how honest Ralph was.

"Thanks Ralph..."

* * *

"Urgh, I look AWFUL!" Gene said as he looked at himself in the mirror, his face showing off all the stress he had been under since Monday.

His eyes were a bit bloodshot and the usually rosy look in his cheeks seemed to be a bit faded. His usually combed back hair was ruffled about and his neatly groomed mustache was bushier than normal, only accented by the bit of stubble that was on his face, something that he would never let happen on his watch.

The man was just a complete MESS and the worst part about it was the fact that he knew he didn't have to let things happen like this but because of his pride, he let it pass.

The man splashed his face a few times with cold water, hoping to wake himself up a bit but as he looked into the mirror, he didn't see the Mayor Gene he was so used to seeing.

He just saw a drained, shadow of a man and it was something that scared him a bit.

How long was he just going to let this continue on? There was such a thing as pride but now he was just letting things happen to him for the sake of them happening and they weren't making him look any stronger. It just made him look like someone who would let people walk over him.

"Easy, Gene. Easy…."

The man then reached for some Aspirin, taking two of the tablets before attempting to regain his focus.

"Okay, you don't have that much longer to go. You can make this….you can make this….."

Even though he repeated those words to himself, he knew he was weakening. There had been so many SURPRISES blow up in his face that he just didn't know if he could take one more.

But what would everyone think once he did?

That he was some constantly irritable lout who couldn't even stay calm for a week? Ralph and Vanellope had somehow managed to take what they were given for years but he couldn't make it one WEEK?

What did that say about his character?

The more he thought, the more frustrated the mayor was becoming. He needed something to cheer him up, something to reassure him that things would be okay.

Knock, knock, knock!

"Who is it?"

"It's the lady who bakes all the pies!" Mary said jokingly from the other side of the door.

Gene rushed off to open the door, only to see a bright and cheerful Mary standing on the other side. The man was a bit startled at first but he quickly collected himself brushing his uncombed hair back as neatly as he could with his fingers.

"OH! Mary! I, er, I just wanted to let you know that the breakfast you cooked was wonderful AND you will find that I washed all the dishes and put them in their proper-!"

"Gene, must you really be like this?" the woman said, putting a hand up.

"W-what do you mean?" the man asked, a little worried.

"What I mean is….well…." Mary tried to find her words but there was just something about her smile that showed she was thinking of something. Gene of course was clueless and wanted to know what the woman found to be so funny.

"Mary? Is there something you want to tell me? There isn't anything wrong is th-?!"

Before Gene could even continue, Mary stood on her tip-toes, wrapped her arms around his chubby frame, pulled him closer….

And kissed him.

Gene was startled, his mind running faster than a speeding blue hedgehog as his lips locked with the woman he had loved.

What was this sudden kiss for? Had something happened? Gene was so confused and worried but then his mind began to relax.

For the first time in a LONG time, his mind calmed down and relaxed. He didn't even care that Mary was kissing him in the doorway in the vicinity of the rest of the apartments; he closed his eyes and drew her closer, nearly picking her up off the ground.

The two just wanted this moment to last forever.

The two pulled away, Gene looking as if his brain were a million miles away, 8-bit hearts popping and floating around his head.

"Just take care of yourself…." The Nicelander in purple finally said as she then hugged Gene again tightly, taking in all his warmth.

Gene didn't say a word; he COULDN'T say a word. A dumbfounded smile was on his face as he stood in the door, Mary's lipstick on his lips and hearts fluttering around his head.

This was the best moment of his life!

Mart pulled away, seemingly unaware that Gene was in a trance, and tapped him playfully on his pink nose.

"I'll see you when the game starts, alright?"

Mary then trotted off, her own mind and heart filled with joy. Gene meanwhile remained in the hallway and it wasn't clear whether he knew that Mary was gone or not.

He just smiled.

And smiled.

And smiled.

"Okay, see you Mary later….."

Once more, the games began. Ralph would come busting in, throw Gene, and Felix would come to the rescue. But there was just something about Gene today that caught everyone by surprise. Throughout the entire day, he seemed as if he were floating on cloud nine, his mind preoccupied by some thoughts that only he knew about.

Ralph saw it. Felix saw it. Everyone in Niceland saw it.

Even when Calhoun came by to visit her husband, she noticed something different when Gene walked around Mary, the two unable to keep little, timid smiles off their faces when they approached each other. The sergeant smirked as she looked down at Felix.

"So what's this? Days of Our Nicelanders?"

Felix looked over, catching the two tiny people from afar. Even though he couldn't hear what they were saying, he could tell by the way they were acting something wonderful was happening. The repair man tipped his hat up with his hammer, a smile on his face.

"Looks like the Mayor an' Miss Mary both have a case of' tha honey glows!"


	6. Chapter 6- Broken

Chapter 6- Broken

Day Six

By the sixth day, Gene was on top of the world. His mind was clear, he was in a good mood and he felt like he could conquer anything! On top of that, there was only a little time left before the bet was over and he was free!

But Gene knew better now.

He knew that even out of the bet, it would be better for him to check his anger because why stay angry all the time? He had good friends, he had a good position in the game (well, not when the game was going but being mayor was still a good position!) and he had someone he loved.

Mary.

Oh, Mary.

As Gene helped the others clean up after the day's gameplay, he made a glance over to the Nicelander in pink, the woman chatting with several of the other ladies. He let out a heartfelt sigh just thinking of her.

"Steady Gene…." The man thought to himself as he straightened up "It's okay to be in love but don't go all puppy-dog in front of EVERYONE!"

"Somethin' on your mind?" said a cocky voice from the side.

Gene turned around to see Norwood giving him a playful grin "Or should I say SOMEONE?"

The mayor let out a chortle as he patted his neighbor on the back "Oh Nory, always the scamp you are!"

Norwood gave a snort as he looked over at Gene; something had to be up! There was no way this was Gene, especially with the way he had reacted to being teased!

"It's GREAT ta have ya back, seein' as I don't have to take you place anymore!" the red-headed Nicelander said, jabbing the mayor in his side.

"Oh, I don't know! I mean, it was fun not having to be the projectile of the game and from what I heard, Ralph said he got better distance with you! In fact, we were talking about switching up from time to time!"

Norwood paled a bit, "Ya better be kiddin' Gene! I don't know if my skull can take anymore run-ins with that tree back there! Besides, we've already messed with the program enough!"

"Ooooh, I don't know! The players don't even seem to notice WHAT Nicelander gets thrown! So long as someone gets thrown, they're happy so who's to say they won't enjoy seeing a little switch-up here or there!"

Norwood prepared to say something but felt a sharp slap on the back of his head. The man turned around only to see an annoyed Nel looking up at him.

"RED. You know he's messin' with ya, RIGHT?"

The other Nicelander gave Gene an icy glare before faking a smile "Hahaha, very funny BIG. GENE. Very funny!"

"Aw, what's the matter Norwood? You're usually the most humorous of us!" the mayor replied with a smile.

The red-headed Nicelander just mumbled under his breath as he felt Nel pulling him away, the woman giving Gene a smile, being in on the joke as well.

You know your day is going great when you can even get Norwood to shut his mouth.

Once the entire area was clean the only thing the group had to figure out was how to spend the weekend.

"Anyone want to go dancing?" Deanna said, some of the Nicelanders cheering in agreement.

"Dancing? Not in the mood! Let's go to one of the roller rinks!" piped in Lucy.

"Nah, movies!"

"To the amusement park!"

As the others talked amongst themselves Mary looked on, unable to keep a smile from forming on her face. Just then, she felt the warm embrace of Gene from behind, the chubby mayor wrapping his arms around her.

"Well, do YOU have any plans for tonight?" the man whispered gently into her ear.

Mary blushed a bit, placing her tiny hands on Gene's "Not at the moment dear…"

"Then how about I take you out for a nice romantic dinner?" the man said as he turned Mary in his arms, embracing her closer "Then maybe a walk in the park? A little dance or two? Does that sound fun?"

The little baker let out a little twitter as she poked Gene in his cheeks "Aren't you the charmer, Mayor? But since you asked so NICLY, I would LOVE to have dinner with you!"

"Wonderful!" Gene beamed "Then let's go while the night is young!"

As Mary and Gene made their way into the trolley, they were unaware that several of their neighbors were not watching them. Everyone knew what was going on and they couldn't help but snicker at the two, not out of ill will of course but because they just couldn't believe after all these years, Gene had finally calmed down.

And better still, it seemed that he had finally gotten over his stubbornness to show off his real affections to Mary.

"'Bout time he got his head outta his butt…." Norwood said with a huff, still a might upset at the man for making him take his place as Ralph's throwing dummy.

"Ya know, maybe this bet WAS a good idea!" said Felix happily.

"Are ya SERIOUS?" Ralph retorted with a grin as he looked down at the repair man "Earlier this week, you were so doom-n-gloom about the entire thing! Now you're suddenly HAPPY about this?"

"Weeeell, I can't say that I approved of you an' Vanellope PESTERIN' him tha entire time…" Felix said with a smirk.

"Aw man, even YOU knew?"

"It was obvious Ralph…" the repair man replied "But if he hadn't taken this bet, I don't think Gene would have been pushed so close to Mary. I mean, I've NEVER seen those two act like this an'….an' I'm glad that they are!"

"I think those honey-glows of yours are catchin'…." Ralph snorted as he crosses his arms "First Gene an' Mary! Who else here could catch 'em?"

Unbeknownst to the wrecker, his comment had caught the attention of Norwood, the Nicelander turning bright red as his eyes shot towards Nel. Nel jolted a bit before pinching her neighbor rather teasingly on the nose.

"Don't get any idea cat-boy!"

"OW! I'MB NOT!"

* * *

The night continued on, game characters making their way to and from as they enjoyed the excitement that flowed through the busy station. Through the hustle and bustle, two little Nicelanders made their way through the nightlife, having not a care in the world.

First there was dinner at one of the background restaurants in TMNT, then there was a walk in the park in King of Fighters.

Those games were actually rather lovely during off hours.

As the hours began to wind down, the two Nicelanders made their way back to Fix-it-Felix Jr, but they still felt a bit too energized to go home just yet. Even though there were still a few people lingering to and from their games, the two just wanted to spend a little bit more time by themselves before returning home.

"Gene, I just want to say that this has been one of the most enjoyable nights I've had in a long time…" Mary said softly, holding onto the mayor's hand.

Gene smiled softly, his heart fluttering as he felt Mary's grasping onto this hand even tighter, "I'm glad that you enjoyed it! I would only give the best for you!"

The woman let out a small giggle, a little too bashful to look at Gene.

"You know Gene, there's something I've always wanted to say to you."

The man turned and looked at Mary, finally noticing the way she was looking at him.

"O-oh, and that would be?"

The little Nicelander began to move closer to Gene, her fingers trailing to his cheeks.

"Something important. Something….something I should have never waited thirty years to say."

Gene's heart was beating a mile a minute the closer Mary got to him, his entire face red.

"M-Ms. Mary, we're in public!" the man whispered.

"I don't care…." Mary responded, moving closer, giving the man a sweet kiss on the cheek.

Gene flinched a bit as he turned towards Mary, "Mary, I-I-"

"You what, Gene? What is it? Why do you always do this?"

Gene forced himself to look back at Mary, the love in her eyes calming him down a bit. The man sighed heavily as he ran a hand through his hair.

"I'm sorry, dear. It's just…."

"It's WHAT?"

"I-I can't explain it. All these years we've been together, and I've been too much of a coward to let you know how I really feel!"

"Well…" Mary said, moving a little closer to Gene "How do you feel?"

"I feel…" Gene stopped, giving the woman a look she had never seen before.

For the first time in their thirty years together, Mary saw just how vulnerable Gene was. She was so used to seeing the man with an air of authority that it took her by surprise to see him so unsure of himself.

"I feel joy. I feel happiness. I just feel good knowing that despite it all, there has always been someone there for me. Someone I would do anything for."

"I…I feel the same way…." Mary said softly.

"M-Mary, I just want you to-to know…." Gene's words began to fade as he moved closer towards Mary, the two only mere inches from a kiss.

"I-I want you to know that I-"

So close.

"I-I lo…."

So close.

"I lov-!"

"AW COME ON! WE DON'T NEED TO SEE THAT!" cried an unfamiliar voice from the distance.

The two Nicelanders yelped as they peered cautiously over the top of the bench they were sitting on, seeing what appeared to be a large group of fighters approaching them.

And LARGE wasn't an understatement!

"Who in the world are they?" Mary whispered over to Gene.

The mayor squinted for a moment, catching a glimpse of the insignia on their jackets.

"Gritz and the Gang or something or other…" the man whispered back, trying his best to reassure the baker "Their game was plugged around the start of the month but their reputation has already gotten long!"

"In a GOOD way or BAD?"

"Er, let me get back to you on that!" the man said as he patted Mary's hand before stepping before the group, adjusting his tie. "Gentlemen, gentlemen, what bring you here on this fine night?"

The leader of the troupe stepped forward, not at all impressed by Gene's manners "What brings us HERE is a coupl'a lil fat-rolls near our game! What are ya doin' on OUR property?!"

Gene jumped back a bit but quickly recovered, "YOUR property? If I might remind you, this entire area is public ground. Anyone can come here if they so choose to!"

"Then maybe it's time we informed ya of some new rules, SHORTY." The larger man said, stopping down to Gene's height "Ya see, my buddies an' I are very 'PROTECTIVE 'of our game. This area, the place you and your lil pinky girlfriend back were sitting, that's close ENOUGH to our game to be OUR property an' we don't want you contaminating it with whatever acts of romance you two are doin'!"

"Excuse me?!" Mary said in an angry tone, glaring up at the much larger men.

"Mary, Mary. Don't waste your energy on these lot." Gene said as he stepped forward, his voice surprisingly calm and collected.

Even though he knew the situation was escalating, Gene didn't know if there were other people listening in, ready to jump on the opportunity the moment he let his temper erupt and call the bet over.

"As I said, GENTLEMEN…." The mayor growled, trying to be as polite as possible "This is a public area. We don't want any trouble here!"

"Hey!" someone said from the midst of the group "This guy looks familiar Gritz!"

"Whaddya mean, Sledge?!" the leader said as he turned towards the voice.

"Ain't that the same guy who was butt naked on the paper a few days ago?"

Did they really have to bring THAT up?

Gritz looked down at the tiny man in surprise before erupting into a fit of laughter.

"H-Holy cow! I think you're right!"

Soon, the entire gang was laughing up a storm, poor Gene just standing there with annoyed look on his face, his arms crossed and his head shaking.

"I'm surprised you guys even know what a newspaper is…." The mayor mumbled, clearly wanting nothing more than to forget THAT event.

After calming down, Gritz kneeled down to the man, a haughty smile on his face "Not everyday we come face to face with a CELEBRITY!" the man laughed "An' since ya made me laugh, LIL MAN I might let ya off easy!"

"MIGHT?" the man retorted, arching an eyebrow "What is this MIGHT about?"

"What I mean is we'll let ya off the hook if ya promise not ta come to this side of tha station again!" Gritz said, a bit angrier this time.

Gene's eye twitched as he glared up at the man but it wasn't like he could do anything to him. Gritz was HUGE, standing nearly as big as Ralph and having just as much girth. Of course, Gene didn't want to fight the man, just show him that he wasn't someone he could push around that easily. The mayor smirked, letting out a soft laugh as he grinned at the fighter.

"Young man, I told you before, this is a public area, BUT…."

"But WHAT?" the larger man growled.

"But if you are THAT adamant about us leaving, than fine. It's not that anything of value resides here anyway so I can't say I'll miss this spot!" Gene said tartly as he turned on his heels and walked away, a smile on his face.

"HEY!" bellowed Gritz "What did ya mean by that?!"

"What do you THINK I meant?" Gene said in an annoyed tone as he turned his head back towards the group "You fine men have brains, figure it out yourselves!"

And with that final comment, Gene took Mary by the hand and walked off, suppression all urges to turn back and give Gritz a few more COLORFUL words.

"Gene, was that a smart thing to do?" Mary whispered to the man, feeling a twinge of nervousness come over her.

"Right now, I'm not sure but I don't care. I'm not letting those group of punks ruin our night, so let's get out of here!" the man said as he held onto Mary tighter than ever.

"But what if they try something else? We can't-!"

"Don't worry my dear! I'll inform the Surge Protector of these ruffians and once we do we should-!"

Before Gene could even finish a word, a large section of the station seating area came crashing down in front of both him and Mary, knocking both Nicelanders to their feet. Once the dust settled, Mary peeked around, only to see Gritz and his cronies standing before the two, all of them looking not at all pleased.

"Oh, I knew this was going to turn out bad…." Mary shivered.

Gene was about to help his love to his feet when a hand shot out and grabbed him by the collar, nearly chocking him in the process.

"C'MERE, YOU!"

Gene gagged as he felt his feet leave the ground, only to be shoved much too close for comfort in Gritz' face.

Gene, what have you gotten yourself into NOW?

It was bad enough that Gene was now face to face with a VERY angry character, but the commotion that both had started was now attracting on-lookers. Characters from all over the arcade began to climb out of the woodwork to watch the drama unfold and this did nothing to help ease the situation or Gene's growing worry.

Not too far away, another trio of characters were making their way towards the confrontation, unaware of just how crazy things would become.

"Man, that was a good movie!" Felix said happily as he and two other figures exited the entrance of House of the Dead.

"Meh, it would have been better if Dr. Curien wasn't laughing so loudly during the entire thing!" Calhoun said as she shrugged her shoulders. "How can ya take a horror movie as true HORROR when someone is turnin' it into a COMEDY?"

Ralph was about to put in his two cents when the sight of gathering game characters caught his attention.

"What's going on now?" the wrecker asked as he took a step forward.

"I don't know, but it looks like there's a fight brewin'!"

"Yeah, but between WHO?"

Felix squinted his eyes to get a better view but once he saw who the participants were, his blood ran cold.

"Oh my land! Its GENE!"

"So, you think you're a comedian, do ya fat boy?" Gritz growled through his teeth.

The mayor flinched a bit in fear but remained as calm as he could, "L-Look! This is getting WAY out of control here! Think of what trouble YOU'LL get into for a moment!"

"Oh, we thought an' franky, we don't CARE!" Gritz bellowed, shaking Gene none too gently "Bottom line is, we ain't gonna let some dumplin' in a blue suit talk to us like we're trash!"

"Put the lil guy DOWN!" boomed a voice from the crowd.

Gritz looked over only to see the trio of Ralph, Felix, and Calhoun glaring at him, each one ready to move at a moment's notice.

"Oh, and who is this? Your posy?"

"Y-You could say that…." Gene chocked, feeling thankful that the others had arrived just in time.

"You heard us slick, put the mayor down! Unless you want to tussle with someone your own size!" Calhoun spat, tightening her fist.

"Oooh, I wouldn't want ta get your pretty hair in a mess!" cackled the fighter, shaking Gene a bit to aggravate the group even further.

"C-Calhoun! I've got this!" Gene blurted "Don't get into this, please!"

"Too late Mr. Mayor!" Calhoun said as she prepared to rush forward "This kid wants a FIGHT? Well, he's gonna get one!"

"Calhoun! Please! It's not worth it!" Mary said, running in-between both larger characters, trying her best to push them away "This is all a big misunderstanding and if we let this continue-!"

"Back off, PINKY!" Gritz said, raising a hand as if he were about to smack Mary out of the way.

At that moment, something went off in Gene's head and before he even knew what he was doing, he swung back and, using all the strength he had, KICKED Gritz in the jaw, the man yelling out in pain as he dropped Gene right in front of Mary.

"GENE!"

"Aw man, BOSS!" cried one of the cronies.

"BACK OFF!" Gritz yelled, still in a bit of disbelief that he had let his guard down.

At the same time, Mary was all a fuss over Gene, the mayor still surprised himself at what he had done.

"G-Gene? You're not hurt are you?!" Mary asked franticly.

"I-I'm fine!" Gene said, a hand to his head "I just….what did I DO?!"

"YOU SIGNED YOUR OWN WILL, PUNK!" Gritz shouted, wasting no time in showing Gene that he meant BUSINESS.

Before either Nicelanders had a chance to move, Gritz landed a blow to Gene that sent the Nicelander sailing towards the nearest wall like a cannon ball, the force of the punch so great that even Mary was sent tumbling back.

"WHAO!" screamed Felix as he watched the mayor fly into the wall.

Gene's short flight was only stopped once the man hit the wall, his landing force so great that he pitted it, but his humiliation wasn't over yet. Not by a long shout.

Sliding down to the ground, Gene was much too dizzy to notice Gritz marching right up to him, the man picking the mayor up by his ankle and hanging him upside down, a few items falling from his pockets.

"Ya still got somethin' ta say ta me now, SHORT STUFF?" the fighter hissed through his teeth.

Gene said nothing. Of course, he wouldn't have been able to say anything if he wanted to considering how dizzy he was at the moment. The man peered down at the ground, finally catching sight on one item in particular that had fallen from his person.

The pocket watch.

The watch that Mary had given him was now lying below him, so far out of reach. The man winced in pain, shutting his eyes as he tried to focus his energy on stringing a coherent sentence together.

"I…"

The massive fighter let out a confused snort at Gene's single word but he then looked down, seeing the watch by his feet. An evil smirk curled on his lips as he gave Gene another glare.

"Ya drop somethin'?"

The mayor knew what was coming next and that pain was much more than that of the punch he had received.

Gritz moved his foot forward….

And with a single, soul crushing 'crunch' smashed the watch underneath his boot.

Mary gasped from afar as she watched the man destroy Gene's gift.

"Oh no….."

"I guess ya shudda been more careful with that!" the fighter said, holding Gene closer "But we all make mistakes, HUH?"

And with that, Gritz SLAMMED Gene into a nearby trash receptacle, the mayor's stubby legs and tiny feet sticking out from the top of the opening

"GENE!" shouted Mary as she ran over to the trash bin, desperate to get the man out.

"THERE." Gritz said with a cocky grin, wiping his hands "I found the perfect place ta put ya, shorty!"

"WHY YOU-!" shouted Mary, jumping up on Gritz and giving him a good smack on his cheek "HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO GENE! HE DIDN'T EVEN-!"

"URGH! YOU WANT TO JOIN HIM?! FINE!" Gritz yelled as he grabbed Mary by her wrist, the woman crying out in shock.

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HER!" Ralph roared, plowing Gritz right into the wall before dealing the man an uppercut.

Mary flew from Gritz' hands, only to be caught by Felix.

"Are you okay, ma'am?!"

"I-I'm fine! But Gene-!"

Throughout the entire fight, Gene remained stuck in the trash bin. The fact that that the man hadn't made a sound throughout the entire thing only made Mary's fear worse. Was he even conscious at this point?

A few yards away, Ralph and Gritz continued to tussle, each man taking turns throwing the other around, their tempers flaring and growing worse by the second. Much to his surprise, Gritz found that Ralph was gaining the upper hand on him, having been pinned up against a wall by the wrecker.

"Okay pal! You wanted to fight someone, so you got it!" Ralph roared, the man so angry at this point that he was red in the face.

His fist drawn back, Ralph was ready to give the fighter the final hit but before he made another move a bright blue flash came in between the two.

"Alright, both of you STOP!" the figure shouted, holding out his arms between the two.

"SURGE?!"

"Who else would it be?!" the man snapped, his hands on his hips "But more importantly, what in the world is going on here?!"

The entire station fell silent as fighters and onlookers alike turned their heads; they knew they were in for an earful with Surge involved now.

"Surge, there was a disturbance in the area and before we knew it, things escalated out of control!" Calhoun said, trying her best to explain the situation.

Surge looked around, seeing nothing but a mess of destruction throughout the area. Shaking his head, he pulled out his clip board and began writing things down.

"Destruction of property. Gathering of uncontrollable crowds. Illegal out of game sparing. Is there anything else you want to add to the list right now?!"

"Surge, it's not what you think!" Ralph said, dropping Gritz to the ground like a ton of bricks "These….GUYS here attacked Mayor Gene and were about to hurt anyone else who got in their way! I just-! I was-! I didn't mean for things to get this bad! I was just tryin' ta help-!"

"I'm sure you were!" Surge cut in, a surprisingly honest look on his face "But that doesn't excuse all the fighting that happened here! You know that Ralph!"

Ralph groaned, looking down at his feet "I-I know sir. I'm sorry…."

"I'm sorry as well…." Surge said, tearing off a sheet of paper "Because I know you're a good kid, Ralph. But that doesn't mean I can let you off the hook for this offense."

Felix knew things were only going to get worse and without thinking, the repairman jumped in. "But sir, consider-!"

Surge held out a hand, stopping Felix in his tracks.

"I'm sorry Felix, but the rules must be followed for EVERYONE! You know that!"

Surge then handed Ralph a slip of paper, "You should be thankful this is your first offense, otherwise the punishment would have been MUCH larger."

"TWO DAYS IN-GAME SUSPENSION?!" Ralph yelled as he looked at the paper "But Surge!"

"I'm sorry, but those are the rules!"

Ralph let out a few frustrated growls but he knew he had been cornered. He slouched in defeat, shoving the note into his pocket.

"Yes sir..."

Surge gave Ralph a nod, trying to show the man that while he understood WHY he had to fight, he still had to go by his own programming. The Surge's mood quickly changed when he turned towards the Gritz Gang.

"YOU on the other hand!" the man began "You guys just keep finding new ways to end up on my list! First it was the incident in Bubble Bobble! Then it was Need 4 Speed, and now THIS?! Are you doing this for fun or do you just love annoying people?!"

"What can I say?" Gritz said coolly, rubbing his sore cheek "I like to make a name for myself!"

"Well, have fun making a name for yourself on one MONTH in-game suspension AND sixty hours community service! I don't know how many times you guys will have to be called in before you get the message through those skulls of yours!"

Gritz sneered at Surge, feeling not an ounce of guilt for anything that had happened that night.

"Puh, the moment I take any of you guys seriously is the moment I'll be cleaning up after those chunk-rolls back there!" the man said, pointing back towards Mary who was trying with all her might to pull Gene free from the trash bin.

"Come on, come on!" the woman said, pulling as hard as she could on the man's leg.

"Wow, look at that guy!" said a character "I didn't know it was even possible to get stuck like that!"

"Isn't that the mayor guy from that one game?" said another.

"The guy who was bear-bald-nakie?"

"Yeah it is!"

"I always thought he belonged in the trash! Looks like he finally made his way in!"

Soon, a crowd of characters began to surround the two Nicelanders, yucking it up at the scene that was unfolding around them. Mary was flabbergasted at what she was witnessing; rather than helping them, they were taking every opportunity to laugh at Gene's misfortune after being hurt and humiliated so much. Mary shook in anger, jumping down from the bin and looking at the group before her.

"STOP IT! STOP IT ALL OF YOU!" Mary yelled furiously, her entire face turning red "You have NO right to laugh at him like this!"

Despite her protest, the laughing continued.

And Gene heard every bit of it.

Even from inside the trashcan, Gene could hear them. He could hear them all.

All the jeers and taunting, the laughing and the insults.

They were enjoying his humiliation. They were enjoying it as if it were some sort of glorious, sweet dessert.

And he could do nothing to defend himself.

Watching from the entrance of his game, Gritz couldn't help but let out a chuckle at the sight. His mind could not be swayed; even though he and his ffellow fighters were in trouble, it was worth it.

"UURGH! COME ON!" Mary growled as she tried with all her might to pull Gene out.

"Hold on Mary! Help is comin'!" Felix said as he bounded over "Gene, are ya okay in there?"

Gene said nothing but instead let his legs fall a bit limp as if to respond.

"Okay, enough of this!" the repairman said, taking hold of Gene's legs and pulling as hard as he could. It didn't take long for Felix to realize that he was making as much process as Mary had before him, to say none at all.

"Wow, you're really packed tight in there!" Felix said, whipping his brow.

"Well, if pullin' doesn't work, maybe a little blast should…" Calhoun said, aiming one of her smaller guns at the base of the trashcan.

"TAMMY!"

"NO! NO! IT'S FINE DEAR!" Mary said franticly as she lept in front of Calhoun, pulling the gun to the side "I-I'm sure we can find another way."

"Guys, lemme get him…." Ralph said as he took the trashcan into his enormous hands.

"Ohh, be careful!" Mary said nervously.

"C'mon, Ms. Mary! It's not I could pull the lil guy in half!"

"RALPH!"

"Okay, okay!"

Being as careful as he could, Ralph gave Gene a good tug and-

POP!

Out the Mayor came, squeaking a bit once he left the can.

"See, all in one piece!" Ralph said with a small smile as he placed Gene back on the ground, the man staggering a bit on his feet.

"GENE!" Mary cried as she instantly leapt on the man and held him tight "ARE YOU ALIRGH?! THOSE RUFFIANS DIDN' HURT YOU TOO MUCH DID THEY!? OH PROGRAMMERS, SPEAK TO ME!"

"They all laughed at me…." Gene finally said in a small voice.

"Er, excuse me now?" Felix asked, a little worried about Gene's sanity at this point.

"They all laughed at me. Even when I needed help…they laughed."

"Oh Gene!" Mary said, embracing the man and putting her hands on his face, squishing his chubby cheeks "Forget those jerks, sweetie! If they so much as even try to hurt you again, we'll-!"

"Laughing….laughing. That's all I heard."

Mary pulled away from Gene and looked him in the eyes but what she saw wasn't the Gene she knew. Instead, there was an empty man, looking defeated and humiliated beyond return.

"Gene? A-are you okay?"

Without saying a word, Gene slipped from Mary's embrace and began to walk away from the four, not even turning once to address them.

"G-Gene! Wait! Where are ya goin'?!" Felix shouted.

Hearing Felix call his name, the mayor stopped, turning his head back for a moment but it was very obvious the man was much too hurt to even reply.

Gene thought he was strong enough for anything; he had been through so much during his thirty years at Litwak's, but there was just something about what had happened during the fight that finally made him realize just how ineffective he was.

Despite his efforts to prevent a fight from happening, he had somehow managed to not only get himself injured but he had also gotten Ralph into trouble for fighting a battle that was clearly HIS.

But the worst was the laughter he had heard.

He was well aware that he wasn't the most respected figure in the arcade, especially after it had been known what was going on in Fix-it-Felix Jr., but his humiliation in front of the arcade was the final nail in the coffin for him. He could tell that EVERYONE around him was enjoying what was happening, as if it were some sort of long deserved justice but for who? Did everyone think that seeing Gene getting the snot beat of him was pay-back for Ralph? If this were true, why would Ralph even risk getting into the fight to begin with to stop it from getting more chaotic.

Gene just didn't know but what he did know was that he had lost. Not the bet but rather any sort of respect he had in the arcade and for himself.

Everything had become all to crystal clear.

He was just the pointless NPC who was a joke.

And what was worse, he wasn't even good enough to protect the woman he loved.

"Gene…."

Mary's voice echoed through the man's ears and he stopped in his tracks, turning his head to see her from the corner of his eye. The sight of an upset Mary broke the man's heart but he was much too broken himself to even think of coming near her.

No, he couldn't show his face to her, not after his failure to protect her.

"Gene, you gonna be okay?" Felix asked sheepishly, reaching a hand out for the mayor.

Unable to muster up the energy to say something, Gene just walked off, leaving the four alone.

"Gene, WAIT! COME BACK!" Mary said as she began to follow but to her shock, the man had disappeared around the corner. The woman turned around, looking franticly for the man but there she stood alone, not a trace of the mayor to be found.

"He's gone?!" asked Ralph, looking around to find any sight of Gene around.

"Urgh, just what we need!" grumbled Calhoun "As if dealing with those Neanderthals wasn't bad enough, now we have a missing Nicelander?!"

"N-not for long!" Mary said "I'm sure if we split up, we can find Gene faster!"

"Oh, no! You're not goin' anywhere Ms. Mary!" Felix said as he took the woman gently by the arm.

"B-but Felix, Gene is out there by himself and-!"

"And what good would it do if YOU got lost as well? Ms. Mary, it's dangerous right now an' I want ya ta go back home with Ralph before anythin' ELSE happens, okay?"

"But Felix!"

"Ms. Mary, PLEASE!" the man pleaded to the Nicelander, holding her hands tight.

Mary knew that Felix was right despite her own feelings telling her to go off and find Gene on her own. Her lip quivering as her eyes filled with tears, the little Nicelander nodded sadly.

"Y-Yes, Felix….you're right."

Mary then felt the gentle touch of Ralph's hand on her shoulder, the wrecker trying his best to stay positive for the woman.

"C'mon, let's get you home."

As the two prepared to leave, Mary turned around.

"Please get him home in one piece…" Mary said sadly, clutching onto her purse.

Felix tipped his hat towards the woman, "You can count on us!"

Ralph then lead Mary back to the game but that didn't ease a bit of tension that the two remaining characters were feeling at the moment.

"Aw man….another missin' character!" the repair man said as he took of his hat and ran a hand through his hair "Should I expect the DUCKS to go on strike next or WHAT?!"

Despite being right next to him, Calhoun hadn't heard a word her husband had said as she was much too busy searching for clues on where the Nicelander might have taken off to.

What could one say? It was instincts.

"Okay, how could someone with such short legs disappear that quickly? It's not like we're dealin' with a speeding hedgehog here!" the woman thought to herself, taking a step forward, only to feel a sharp crack beneath her boots.

Jumping away quickly, she saw what looked like the remints of a watch, the very same watch that Gritz had crushed under his own boots.

Gene's watch.

Seeing the sight put a knot in the woman's stomach; it was bad enough that both Gene and Mary had to deal with the hecklings of the Gritz Gang but to have something so precious destroyed as well?

That was just too much. It was like the moment the watch had been smashed, so had Gene's spirit.

The woman scooped up the remains of the watch and put it one of her pocket pouches.

"Felix!"

"Yeah Tammy?"

"C'mon, we're on a mission!"

Felix looked up at his wife in surprise "Ya mean ya know where Gene is?!"

"Not exactly…." the woman said as she took her smaller husband by the hand, dragging him towards one of the many games that lined the station "But we're not stoppin' until we search EVERY game in this arcade and find him!"


	7. Chapter 7- Drown out Your Sorrows

Chapter 7- Drown Out Your Sorrows

"Oh my GOODNESS, that's HORRIBLE!" Meg said as she handed Mary another tissue.

"An-and I don't know where he is!" Mary sobbed, patting her tear-stained cheeks. "It didn't seem to matter WHAT I said! He just…he just-! He just LEFT ME!"

"Gene? Just walkin' away like that?" Norwood said as he shook his head "Man, I've known Gene has done a lotta stuff, but I never would have thought he'd just up an' leave Mary like that!"

"We're not the only ones who haven't seen him!" Roy cut in, wringing his hands nervously "I called Tapper's, Pac-Man, Galaga! They haven't seen a TRACE of Gene!"

"TAPPER'S hasn't seen him?!" Nel said in a stunned voice "WOW! Things must be REALLY bad then!"

"I take that back….he WAS a Tapper's but…"

"Buuuut?" the other said, getting much too close for Roy's comfort.

"Buuuuut, Taps had to kick him out when Gene drank the supply to make the counter roll, TWICE!"

"Yeah, that sounds like Gene…" Lucy sighed, rolling her eyes.

As the other Nicelander chatted amongst themselves on the whereabouts of their leader, Ralph could do nothing more than look in worry towards the tram, expecting Calhoun and Felix to return at any moment with the mayor in tow. Every few seconds his eyes would dart to the trolley and then to the clock but nothing.

"C'mon guys, where are ya?"

Ralph couldn't believe he was admitting it, but he was worried about Gene.

Maybe it was because after all these years, the two were starting to come to an understanding with each other. Maybe it was because he knew that compared to a lot of characters in the arcade, Gene didn't stand a chance.

But after thinking over it so long, Ralph realized he was worried because, even if he and Gene didn't see eye to eye, he really didn't want anything horrible to happen to the man.

And even more, he knew that there was someone else who was worried sick of the mayor's whereabouts.

Mary.

Ralph turned towards Mary, the little woman sitting alone on the couch.

"Ms. Mary?" Ralph said in a gentle voice.

The small woman looked up, trying her best not to look too upset in front of the man.

"Y-Yes, Ralph. What is it?"

"I-I just want ya to know that Calhoun and Felix have everything in order and we'll see Gene again in no time!"

Ralph tried his best to smile in the face of adversity but the growing pit of fear in his stomach said otherwise. How he wished he could have joined his friends on their search but seeing as he was now doing in-game suspension, so much as stepping foot outside was out of the question.

"I-I know dear…." The woman sniffed as she blew her nose into her handkerchief "But I'm finding it a little difficult to keep positive…"

* * *

As the hours were ticking by, some games were still as busy as ever. Knowing that the arcade was going to be closed, a lot of characters took great advantage in the few hours that they had off and were indulging as much as possible. Needless to say, this meant that nearly all the bars in every game were busy,

For a person like Gene, this was the perfect way to drown out his sorrows but for Felix and Calhoun, all this meant was more time spent searching high and low for the man.

Calhoun had lost count of how many bars she and her husband had gone in to but with each tavern they came across, they were only left with few clues and no Gene.

All they knew was that if there was a bar, or a bakery for that matter, Gene had been there and he had also been kicked out when the owners felt that the little man had worn out his welcome.

"Okay, riddle me THIS." Calhoun said in an aggravated tone "How in the world can we NOT catch up to a short, blue, round thing that can't even get up to a decent runnin' speed?!"

"You don't know Big Gene as well as I do!" Felix said "Mention a bar or food to the guy, he's at it faster than lightening!"

"In that case, why don't we just hold up a sign over a box that says 'Free Beer' and trap him once he takes the bait?!"

"If it were that easy, don't you think I would have TRIED that?!" Felix said, pressing his hands on his temples.

"HEY!"

The two stopped in their tracks at the sudden yell. Looking around, they found none other than Sonic waving towards them.

"You two looking for Gene?" the hedgehog said.

"Er, yeah! Has he been by your way?" Felix asked.

"Has he? HAH! The guy stopped by our game for a hot second but then left when he found out we didn't have a bar!"

"Oh PLEASE tell me you know where he went!" Felix said, holding his hands together.

"Sure thing!" the hedgehog said with a grin, running his nose "I heard he stopped over at Dig-Dug for a moment but got kicked out for biting a Pooka when he thought it was a doughnut! THEN he ran over to that one game? Food Fight? Yeah, he stopped by there an' stole a buncha cakes or somethin'! Man, that guy was JETTIN' outta that place with a whole stack'a cakes in his arms an-!"

"Sonic…." Calhoun said in a dry voice "Can you just TELL us?"

"Alright lady, alright! The last thing I heard, he was headin' over to Hack n' Slash! They have a pretty decent background bar!" Sonic said, putting his arms behind his back.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you!" Felix said as he tore off to the next game "If ya need anything fixed, don't be afraid ta ask!"

"I think you should save that hammer for all the damage Gene has done to some of those bars!" Sonic said with a smirk.

"W-Was it THAT bad?" Felix asked, growing all the more nervous by the second.

Sonic shrugged before turning to walk away, "Let's just say I think Gene wrecked more bars than Ralph could ever wish to do in his life time!"

The husband and wife exchanged worried glances for a moment; they knew Gene could get himself into trouble, but not like this!

"Urgh, should we be prepared for the worst?" Calhoun said, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"At this time, YES." Felix said, shaking his head and pulling his hammer out of his holster.

It didn't take too long for the couple to make their way to the before mentioned Hack n' Slash, another old school game that had been at Litwak's since the beginning. Felix had known about it but he wasn't a regular at the place. The only thing he knew about the old beat-em-up was that it was from one of the rougher sides of the arcade.

And unfortunately, Felix wasn't a 'rough' character.

"Felix, have you ever BEEN in this game? At least THIS FAR into it?" Calhoun asked, on high alert for any sort of ill-activity.

"No." the repair man said, gulping back a bit "But if Gene is in here, I'll search EVERYWHERE til I find him!"

"Ho boy…" Calhoun said, taking one of her many guns from her holster "Now I am glad I took one of these tonight!"

The couple cautiously made their way through the game, finally spotting one of the many repeating background bars in the distance. Calhoun rubbed her chin as she looked at the establishments.

"Okay, found the bars. We just have to figure out which one Gene's in!"

"Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!" rose a loud voice from the last bar on the block "Has anyone here ever heard me SCREAM? It's like a combo of a cat and a crying baby! H-here, I'll do it now! NYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAARuuurrggh!"

"There he is!" Felix said happily, wasting no time in running in before Calhoun had a chance to stop him.

"Honey, WAIT!"

Felix bounded into the bar, finding that even for a busy weekend, it was surprisingly empty.

That is, except for a familiar, small round figure propped up on one of the barstools, four phone books planted under his butt just to help him reach the counter.

"Er, ya know I could get in trouble for serving minors here…." Said the barkeep, looking a bit bewildered to what was unfolding in front of her.

"MINOR? Ha! I'm older than what your bio says, BAAAAAAAAAABE! Now *HIC!* MORE of da heavy stuff, DEAR!" the tiny man said, pounding the counter.

Yup, it was Gene alright.

"Oh thank goodness!" Felix said as he ran over to the stool "You have no idea how much we were-!"

As Felix spun the stool around, the sight that met him halted him in his place since the figure in front of him somewhat RESEMBLED Gene but at this point, he wasn't sure if it was the REAL Gene.

"Uh, GENE?!" Felix said, blinking twice in surprise.

The mayor was a WRECK and it wasn't just because he was DRUNK. The mayor looked like he had been dragged all the way from one end of the arcade to the other! Not only were their MORE bruises on him from the previous fight, but several articles of his clothing were missing including his signature cardigan. His hair was a mess, there were signs of several cakes smeared on his remaining outer shirt and most surprising of all….

For some unknown reason, his beloved MUSTACHE was gone!

"Huh, no wonder the barkeep thought he was a minor…" Calhoun whispered to herself, not sure what to make of the sight before her.

Despite the way he looked, Gene was much too inebriated to been notice or even care. He grinned at the couple before him before giving them a friendly wave and a drunk grin.

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEY! It's my pals! Fixy-Mc-Fixer-Person an' his wife! Lady Kick-Butt!"

"Er, I take it you know this man?" asked the barkeeper, the look on her face simply BEGGING for the two to remove the mayor from her establishment.

"Not too well…" Calhoun said quickly, growing all the more embarrassed by the second.

"Oh my LAND!" Felix cried in horror as he ran up to the man "What in the world HAPPENED to ya?"!

"Whaaaaaaaaat? THIS?" Gene said as he rubbed his bare lip "I think I might have shaved it because it started talkin' ta me!"

"No, no, NO! I mean-! Your-! EVERYTHING!"

Gene looked down at himself again, blinking off "Ooooh! DIS!" the mayor then began to laugh loudly as he pulled on his shirt "I T'INK I traded in my shirty thing for some booze over in Double Dragon! Or…or I think I might have used it to wipe up some blood…."

"WHAT!?" screamed Felix, turning a bit pale at the confession.

"An' then I went over ta a bunch'a places an ate a lotta cakes!" Gene giggled gleefully, putting his hands on his stomach "I ate SOOOOOOOO much cake! I love cake. I love *hic!* cake more than I love…CAKE!"

"And your mustache?" Calhoun said, putting her finger under her nose.

"I HAD A MUSTACHE?" Gene asked, looking at the woman with startled eyes "AURGH! DON'T LET ANOTHER ONE GROW ON MY FACE! IT MIGHT EAT ME!"

If there were a time that Gene had gone over his limit, this was it.

"Ma'am! Please tell me ya capped him off or somethin'!" Felix asked the bartender.

"I tried! But every time I tried to take a drink away, he started crying! I didn't know WHAT to do with him!"

"Hey! Hey! Hey! HEEEEEEEEEEEY!" Gene said rubbing his hand on Felix's face, much to the repairman's discomfort "Did ya know I CRY like a cat too?! Norwood would be so proud'a me!"

Felix chuckled nervously, lowering the mayor's hand from his face, "Okay Gene, it seems that you've had a good time tonight but now, it's time for ya ta get home an' get inta bed!"

"Home? What is HOOOME?" asked the drunk Mayor, scratching his bare lip.

"Er, Niceland of course!" Felix replied, getting a little scared at just how hammered Gene was "It's nice an' warm, an' there is bed ya can go to so ya can sleep off ALL those…DRINKS an' cake ya ate!"

"Oooooh! THAT place!" the mayor chuckled "I had so many good times there! Like the time that lady I liked held my booty for a long time before we made out!"

"OH DEAR." Felix said, not sure whether to feel embarrassed for GENE or HIMSELF.

The mayor flopped forward, suddenly realizing what he just said "Oh, was that somethin' I shudda kept PRIVATE? WHOOPS."

Having had enough, Calhoun simply took Gene into her arms as if he were some sort of child, the mayor kicking his tiny legs to and from.

"Alright, I've had enough! We're getting' ya back to Niceland!"

"NoooO! I dun WANNA go back! I HATE it there!" whined Gene.

"What do ya mean ya hate it there?" asked Felix as he placed a hand on Gene's shoulder "Ya have so many friend back at Niceland an' they miss ya!"

"No they dooooooon't!" Gene wailed, a drunken pout appearing on his face "Don't act like I dun know what ya guys have been sayin' behind my BACK! I know ya hate me! I know ya all hate me!"

"Hate ya?!" shouted the offended repair man "HATE YA?! Gene, you're one of my BEST FRIENDS! How in the world could ya think-?!"

"Do ya r-really think I'm that ss-s-sSTUPID, Fixy Person!" Gene said, this time taking Felix's hat right off his head and putting it on his own "I know what ya guys say behind my back and it's all 'Gene is such a loser!' this and 'He's so mean!' that! Nngh, nngh, nngh! I've been hearin' it since the game got plugged in an' I've been hearin' it more since Ralph an' little candy annoying child person thingy beat all those bugs!"

Felix forced a smile, unsure what to do at the moment "You mean…VANELLLOPE?"

Gene shook his head, Felix's hat falling over his eyes "No, little annoying child person thingy!"

"I think you're still talking about Vanellope…." Calhoun said with a glare. She wasn't in the mood for this at all.

"YES! PRINCESS PEACH!" the mayor said much too loudly, a finger pointing in the air "Ever since those two busted loose, everyone's been flailin' on me as if I were the one who set those buggies lose! Or if I were Turbo, whichever one is WORSE!"

Felix blinked as he looked into Gene's eyes. Even in his drunken state, the man could tell that the mayor was being truthful in his statements. It was just unfortunate that it required so much alcohol for him to say what was really on his mind.

It was also unfortunate that he was too drunk to remember anyone's name, but at this point Felix was just happy that Gene was CONSIOUS, all things considered.

"Gene, if you've been havin' trouble with so many people in tha arcade, why didn't ya tell us?! Ya know we're here for ya!" Felix said in a reassuring tone and taking back his hat.

Gene snorted before looking off to the side, "Like that would have matteeeeered! Like ANYTHING I say MATTEEEEEEEEEEEEERS! Why do ya think I didn't tell any of ya guys that Ralph an….an….."

Gene stopped, his brain working overtime to remember Vanellope's name.

"VANELLOPE?" Felix and Calhoun said.

"YES, JILL VALENTINE!" Gene said with a drunken smile "Why do ya think I didn't tell ya guys 'bout those two prankin' me? Ya think the bet was da only reason?"

"Actually, YES!" Calhoun said as she sat the little man back on the bartool, a little surprised to find that there might have been something more to Gene's behavior throughout the entire ordeal.

"Da OTHER reason I didn't tell…."

Gene then stopped, signaling Felix to come closer.

"Y-Yes, sir?" asked Felix nervously.

Gene then grabbed onto Felix, pulling him so close to his face that both their cheeks smushed together, the Mayor's eyes shrinking down to pin-points as a demented smile formed on his face.

"Was because I knew no one would have believed meeeeeeeeh….." Gene's voice came out in a rather scary, low tone.

Gene snickered drunkenly as slowly backed away, Felix much too petrified to even answer now.

"What? We wouldn't BELIEVE YOU?!" Calhoun said, pushing her still horrified husband to the side "Where in the arcade would you get an idea like THAT implanted into your skull!?"

"Ain't it simple, Army Lady? Youse would have th-thought I was LYIN'!" Gene said in creepily cheerful voice "You an' EEEEVERYONE else would have thought I was just makin' up stuff ta make the arcade's HEEEEEEEROES look bad! Those two could have beat me with two-by-fours an' no one would have batted a single eye! They couda stuffed me with feathers an'….an'….AN' DID THING an' no one would have cared!"

Felix slowly peeked from behind his wife, walking up to Gene, CAUTIOUSLY.

"N-Now c'mon Gene! I'm sure things wouldn't escalate THAT much!"

"BULL HONKEY!" Gene said in a much-too-loud voice, grabbing another mug of beer from the counter "We all know it's true! Any sort of pain inflicted on me, especially by those two, is seen as justice by the arcade!"

"J-Justice, Gene?"

Gene leaned forward and patted Felix on his head "Say it wit me Felix! JUSTICE! Sweet, sweet, 'let's bring as much pain to Gene as possible' JUS. TICE! правосудие!"

Calhoun jumped back a bit at Gene's final words "The HECK-! Did he just speak in Russian?!"

"An' I know deep, deep, deep down ya think tha same thing don't ya? DON'T YA?! Don't you frackin' LIE ta me, SERGENT! You've always wanted to see me writhe in pain TOO, haven't ya?!"

Gene dropped his mug on the ground, tears forming in his eyes as he began to sob bitterly.

"Don't think I've seen the smirk on your face when you an' your 'frieeeeeeeeeends' talk smack about me an' the others! JUST LIKE WHEN YOU PASTED THOSE PICTURES OF MY BUTT ALL OVER YOUR SHIPS!"

"Tammy, is that true?" Felix asked, looking up at his wife.

"UH."

"Oh, to be a Nicelander! Ta hafta ta go day in an' day out as bein' seen as some sort of weaklin' by everyone ya meet! Well, that was before the Turbo incident! Now, day in an' day out, we hafta deal with bein' seen as weakin's an as worse as VIRUSES!"

Gene sniffed as he looked over at the two beside him, a desperate look on his face.

"Ya see what I did there? With us Nicelanders? An' how everyone here thinks we're worse than viruese because of what we did to Ralph? Please tell me ya got the joke…."

"If we say yes, would you please stop scaring us?"

As the mayor prepared to say something, he felt a wave of nausea hit with full force. He lurched forward on the counter, hand clamped over his mouth in fear that there was going to be more of him in the bar than he wished. Thankfully the sickness faded but in that moment, it had robbed him of whatever energy his drunken high had given him. He leaned forward, his chubby cheeks planted on the wooden counter.

"Felix? Do ya wanna know why I'm so mad all the time?" the man said weakly, turning a bit pale in the face.

Felix looked at his wife but then turned back to the mayor. The man was obviously hurting now and after all the foolishness that he had done before, what he really needed was someone to take him seriously. Sighing heavily, the repair man placed a hand gently on the mayor's back, though not too hard as to cause another catastrophe in the bar.

"Why are ya so angry all the time, Gene?"

"Because…because I hear so much smack bein' said about us." The mayor groaned, turning his head over "I hear so many things that the others don't. Mean things, HORRIBLE things. Things that as mayor of our game, I have NEVER let them know about because I know it would HURT them."

Gene reached weakly for his mug, taking a small sip before groaning in disgust.

"I know people don't take us seriously. I know people don't take ME seriously, but ever since the Turbo incident, people have just gotten MEAN. And I'm not talking people just being grumpy or something. I mean, they really do feel the need to show how much disdain they have for us Nicelanders…"

Felix gave the man a shocked look. Since when was THIS going on?

"Maybe we deserve it? I don't now….but people have gone too far." The mayor continued "They don't just say guff against me, they say it against EVERYONE. Roy, Don, Meg….EVERYONE. If you could hear it, it would make your blood boil too. But the reason they don't hear it is because whenever I hear someone start to go off, I take the guff for them. I step in, pull the people over to the side and tell them if they have any problems, they should take it out on me."

"And do they?" asked Calhoun.

"Boy, DO THEY!" the mayor replied "I know we're in a T game at the moment, but I don't think it would be polite of me to REPEAT some of the things said!"

Calhoun looked rather stunned at the confession but her mood quickly shifted, becoming angrier the more she heard.

"Wait a sec. This has been goin' on for HOW long?! An' you've never told us?!" the woman growled, looking as if she were ready to beat someone up herself.

"As I said before, no one would ever believe ME!" Gene mumbled, a weak look on his face "So whenever someone tried to say something, I'd just step in and…and take the fall."

It was at that moment things began to click; everyone knew that Gene had always been hot-headed but this explained why more than ever it seemed that the man was irritated. Day in and day out, he had to deal with people who made it their hobby to mess with the Nicelanders and the man had made it his responsibility to ensure that the other Nicelanders were not brought down by all the negativity and anger that was directed towards them. Gene heard it constantly again and again, so it was no wonder he was angry. Anyone would be angry after hearing so many hateful words directed towards them and most importantly, their FRIENDS.

But it still didn't make sense why Gene thought that Felix wouldn't believe him.

Was it pride?

Was it fear?

Perhaps it was both. After all, so many things had been exchanged between the citizens of Fix-it-Felix Jr. since the Turbo incident so maybe Gene had somehow made himself believe that Felix didn't value him as a friend anymore. Sure, Felix had become closer to the others since he had gotten to know them better but he was astonished to discover that Gene thought he had just abandoned him like that!

"Oh Gene…" Felix said softly, rubbing the man on his shoulders "Look buddy, you know you could have saved yourself a lotta trouble had ya just come ta us! We're your FRIENDS!"

"I just didn't want to be a bother by bringing you into OUR messes. You don't deserve to be brought down by US." The mayor said sadly "And beside, the fact that no one else knew? It wasn't hurting them and I wanted it to stay that way. Up until NOW, nothing had escalated above just some verbal exchanges….."

Gene faltered, shaking his head as those horrible memories of the fight in the station came rushing back to him, more painful than ever.

"But tonight….."

"Tonight it came full circle…." Calhoun said, shaking her head.

"It was worse than that!" sobbed the mayor, placing his face in his hands "I FINALLY got a taste of how USELESS I really am!"

"Gene, you're not usel-!"

"I AM FELIX!" the man shouted, grabbing Felix by the collar "I AM USELESS! I COULDN'T EVEN PROTECT MARY WHEN SHE WAS IN DANGER!"

Gene shook his head, sniffing back as the very thought of the woman brought more tears to his eyes "I never wanted things to get this bad! I don't CARE if everyone directs their anger towards ME! But to hear them saying such horrible things to MARY!? She doesn't deserve any of that! And the horrible truth of it all! To see everyone LAUGH at my inability to even HELP her when we were being harassed tonight! I just-! I can't come home! I don't WANT to come home! Not after that!"

After such a huge deluge of confession, Gene slammed his head on the wooden counter. He just wanted all the madness to end. Was that so hard to ask for?

"Ya wanna know something?" Gene mumbled "I wish I were like you, Felix."

Felix blushed brightly as he looked down at Gene, "M-M-ME? But why?"

"Because I envy your way you can take so much at once. I don't know what to do anymore but I'm sure if you were in the same position, you would have already gone hoppin' along to find something to make things better. You always do. But me? I make things WORSE."

The man drug his finger onto the shiny countertop, glaring at one of the martini olives nearby.

"Heh, I break under the pressure. I always come out as a joke. A coward." the Nicelander said, flicking the olive into the distance "I can't even tell the woman I've admired for THIRTY YEARS that I love her. I can't even PROTECT her. What kind of hus….FRIEND would I be to her?"

"But you DID protect her!" Calhoun snapped, having enough of Gene's sad-sack attitude "You stood your ground against those THUGS because you knew it was the right thing ta do!"

"Yeah?" Gene groaned as he gave Calhoun a sarcastic look "But who ended up in the trash and got Ralph in trouble? Just something else people will blame me for, by the way."

"THAT DOESN'T MATTER!" the woman roared "What matters is that you were willing ta do ANYTHING to protect Mary from those guys! You didn't run away, you didn't cower! You stood your ground!"

Gene shyly looked away, circling his finger on the bar counter "I-it was just somethin' I had to do…."

"EXACTLY!" the woman said as she suddenly picked Gene up off the stool, the little man squeaking in shock "So why are ya runnin' away NOW?! There is a woman in Niceland waiting for you and she is worried sick over where you've been!"

Gene's face began to light up a bit, though Calhoun wasn't sure that was because he was finally gaining some confidence or if it were due to the alcohol.

"Mary's worried for me?" the mayor said in a thin voice.

"Gene, that woman LOVES you!" Felix said "Don't think no one else can see it! She KNOWS that you would do anything for her an' if ya wanna do somethin' REALLY big, you'd march your butt outta here an' get back home to her!"

There was something about Felix's words that began to clear Gene's mind. Though he was still dizzy and his mind was in a bit of a buzz, the feeling in his heart was beginning to beat all of that.

What in the world had he been doing all these hours? He had allowed himself to be walked over AGAIN and he was going through so much self-pity that he didn't realize that there was indeed a home he could go to where people cared for him.

And most of all, there was Mary.

The woman he loved, the woman he cherished.

He had almost let the entire bet and the situation in the station destroy EVERYTHING that had been building up for the past week.

There was no way he was going to let things break now!

"Y-YEAH!" Gene said, wriggling free from Calhoun's grasp "I gotta get home!"

Felix clapped his hands happily once he saw that he had broken through to the man, "Oh thank the PROGRAMMERS!"

"Er, are ya sure ya can walk there solider?" Calhoun asked, noticing the obvious sway in Gene's steps.

"Y-Yes, ma'am! I am fine! You don't become the best known partier in the arcade without building up some strength!"

Of course, Gene's words would have been taken more seriously had he not walked right into a wall on his way to the door. The little man flopped onto the ground, the entire world spinning in his eyes.

"I got him…." Calhoun said with a sigh, picking the man up and holding him in her arms like a doll.

"Well, at least he's still conscious." Felix said, scratching the back of his neck.

Gene moaned sickly, placing his hands on his now aching stomach.

It had appeared that the copious amounts of hard drinks and pastiries had finally caught up with him.

"Orrrrp, my tummy hurts!" Gene groaned, turning a bit green.

Calhoun turned and glared at her husband "I just want you to know, if he gets sick on me YOU'RE fixin' my uniform, FELIX. BY HAND."

"Yes, dear…." Felix said with a sigh.

* * *

Back at Niceland, Mary sat alone in her apartment, much too upset to even consider thinking about what Gene was doing. Every time a thought crossed her mind, it was always worse than the last.

What if he had gotten lost somewhere?

What if he were being accosted by more game characters?

What if he had somehow gotten his way into the cord?

And if he were in the cords….

The woman felt a chill run up her spine at the very thought but she knew she couldn't allow herself to become swallowed by her worry. Gene wouldn't want her to worry so much over him.

But with the way he left, she wasn't so sure anymore.

Mary had so many 'what ifs' but none of them brought back Gene.

"Wait, is that Felix?" a voice rang from the hallway.

"Yeah, and I think!" said another.

"What?" Mary said to herself, looking over towards her front door.

"Holy cow, It's GENE!" Deanna cried out happily from the hall.

Mary jumped to her feet as she ran to her door, pushing it open without any regards to who was standing beside it.

"GENE'S BACK?!" the woman cried looking around the hall frantically.

"Whoa, calm down Mary!" Don said, moving out of the way just in time before the door hit him "As far as I can see, Calhoun is carrying SOMETHING blue in her arms!"

Norwood peeked from the window "Well, it's either Gene or some miniature blue whale! Take your pick!"

"GENE!" Mary cried in happiness as she ran towards the stairs, her little feet moving as if they had suddenly grown wings.

Back outside Ralph approached the group, relieved to see that Gene was in once piece.

"Ya didn't run into any trouble finding him, did ya?!" Ralph asked in worry.

"Not at all, big guy!" Calhoun said with a smile "But….um, there is an issue we have to talk about involving the TABS this guy ran up."

"…How much do we owe THIS time?"

"GENE! Oh, thank GOODNESS you're okay!" cried an elated Mary, running right up to Calhoun and holding her arms up for the man.

Gene moaned, feeling worse than before, "This is OKAY?!"

Before Gene could say another word Mary jumped the poor man, knocking him over on his butt and burying her face in his chest.

"Gene, I'm so GLAD your home!" the woman cried out, her cries muffled in Gene's chest "You have no idea how worried I was for you!"

Mary then stood on her feet, pulling the queasy Gene up as well though she didn't seem to notice the green color in his cheeks.

"Don't you ever, EVER run away like that again, you hear?! If anything happens, we can work it out together, but you-!"

The little Nicelander then felt the weight of the man falling forwards on her but thankfully she caught him before he took her down with him. She looked up at the man in shock, finally realizing the condition he was in.

"You look AWFUL!"

With Mary as his only support, Gene could do nothing more than sway to and fro in her arms, his head pounding and his stomach doing cartwheels inside of him.

"Urp, I love you too honey…."

The woman then began to lead the staggering Gene back to the apartments "You poor thing! Once we get inside, I'll take care of you!"

"Th-that's sweet of you dear…." Gene panted, feeling even worse by the second "B-but there is something I want to say first!"

Mary turned towards Gene, a worried look on her face "Gene, please! Don't do this to yourself right now! You're sick!"

"No, no, no! I need to say this!" the man said as he pushed Mary away gently, trying his best to stand on his own feet "What I did was FOOLISH. Everything I've done this week was FOOLISH and I had no right dragging you into this!"

Mary took a hold of Gene's hands, gripping them tightly "Darling, there is no reason to blame yourself!"

"But I should have known better. And I want to apologize for running away from you like I did! That is no way a responsible adult should behave and….."

Gene looked off to the side, blushing like mad.

"I'm sorry, Mary. I am very, truly sorry."

Mary couldn't help but smile as she looked up at Gene, a few tears coming from her eyes.

"It's alright dear….It's alright."

Mary then gave Gene a peck on the lips, but pulled away quickly, "But please tell me you're going to let Felix fix your mustache. It feels a bit…ODD not to feel it when we kiss! Plus…you look like you're twelve."

"O-Oh right…" Gene said bashfully as he rubbed his upper lip with his finger "I-I…I forgot about that."

Gene stopped, his eye twitching as his face began to pale again. Mary blinked, taking his hands.

"Dear? Gene, are you alright?"

Without saying a word, the mayor gave the woman a calm look, clearing his throat and holding a finger up.

"H-Hold on, I have to take care of something!"

"What? WHAT?" Mary said, watching Gene as he staggered over towards the side of the apartments.

The man fumbled his way over to one of the bushes near the side of the building and not a second later-

"BWAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRFGH!"

"OH! GEEZE!" winced Ralph.

"YUP. Right on time…" Calhoun said, wincing a bit.

"Gene, how much cake did you eat?!" Mary shouted, worry in her voice as she ran towards the sick mayor.

"Uuurggh! I DON'T KNOW!" Gene sobbed, holding his aching stomach before dropping to his knees.

* * *

"Aw man, I'm EXHAUSTED!" Calhoun said as she flopped on Felix's loveseat "I've been on some tough missions before but I didn't think searching for a lil chunk-ball in blue would be that annoying!"

"At least we got him back!" Felix said from the kitchen, getting himself a slice of left over pie "An' seein' how happy he was with Mary? Well, that made it worthwhile…."

The repair man then stopped for a moment, a sour look coming on his face.

"Well, until he got SICK. Everythin' was FINE up until that point!"

"So is that the reason why he said he didn't want you to 'fix' his mustache until he got better?" Calhoun said with a cheeky smile.

"I guess? Maybe he was afraid he would do a repeat performance before I had a chance to place my hammer on him."

"I suppose that makes SOME sense…" Calhoun said "Wait a moment, no it DOESN'T. But whatever. It's not like I WANT to argue with the mayor, now do I?"

"Y-Yeah…" Felix said gloomily, taking a tiny bite of his pie.

"Hey, what's wrong solider?" asked Calhoun, snuggling up against her love.

"It's nothin' Tammy…"

"Liar…" the woman said as she brushed her lips softly against Felix's cheeks "If there wasn't something on your mind, you wouldn't be acting this grumpy."

"Weeell….it's just what Gene said in the bar…." Felix replied.

"You'll have to remind me again because Big Gene said a LOT of things. A lot of DRUNK things!"

"I still can't get over how he thought I wouldn't have believed him if somethin' was happenin' ta him AN' tha rest of the Nicelanders!" the repair man said in a worried tone "It's like…it's like he really does think that I feel the same way as the rest of the arcade does, or SOMETHIN'!"

"Or SOMETHIN'?" Calhoun echoed " Babe, I can assure you, both you AND Gene are worrying too much an' as we witnessed ourselves, nothing good can come from it!"

"Maybe you're right…." Felix sighed, leaning closer onto Calhoun "But can ya really blame me? All this stuff happened because of that stupid bet we made with Gene."

Calhoun rolled her eyes as she let out a chuckle "The bet. YES. I find it ironic that all this time, Gene still hasn't gotten angry. He cried like a baby, but he didn't get angry ONCE in the bar! That takes nerves of steel to do, especially when one is DRUNK!"

"I just hope that nothin' else happens! We only have ONE day of this madness to go an' after that, NO MORE!" Felix said in a surprisingly mad voice "An' on top of that, I'm gonna crack down on those guys who apparently have issues with our game!"

"Is that so, big boy?" Calhoun said in a cheeky voice, embracing her love closer to her "Well, don't be TOO rough on 'em! What will people think if Fix-it-Felix Jr. starts actin' like a tough guy, hmmm?"

"Awww, Tammy…." Felix laughed, a smile finally appearing on his face.

* * *

Ralph stretched, yawning loudly as he plodded to his bed.

"Might as well just sleep. It's not like I can go anywhere…" the man grumbled as he fell face first into the mattress.

While he was glad that things had calmed down, he was still a little miffed on receiving a game arrest from Surge. Of all the things he could have gotten in trouble for, coming to the aid of a friend was the most grating!

Even worse, Ralph could remember the arrogant smirk that Gritz had given him as the two parted ways. Something in the wrecker's brain knew that no good was going to come from that. His gut was telling him it would only be a matter of time before he ran into the gang again, and who knew what they were planning for him AND the rest of the residence of Fix-it-Felix Jr.

The big man rolled over on his stomach, feeling much too sleepy to even be that frustrated anymore.

"Aw, forget 'em Ralph…" the wrecker said with another yawn "They're just a bunch'a….a bunch'a 8-bit punks. If they try anything else, you'll know what to do!"

In no time at all, Ralph had dozed off, snoring softly as his mind drifted into a peaceful dream.

Peace; that was something that was going on in Niceland.

Things were back together, people were finally calming down.

Nothing could break this up.

Nothing.

In the midst of his sleep, Ralph could hear a faint whistling noise coming from somewhere in the distance. Whatever it was, it was working its way into his dreams, the wrecker snickering cutely as he fidgeted a bit.

"N-No Pauline! That's cute but ya don't have to do that for me!" the man snickered to himself.

Of course, once the whistling began to grow louder, Ralph's subconscious jolted him awake.

"W-what in the w-?!"

BOOOOOM!

Ralph was knocked off his bed just as a large explosion rocked through his little shack. Everything in his room was blown back, hitting the wall with great force, his entire body still feeling the aftereffects of the huge jolt.

The wrecker wasn't the only person who felt the blast as everyone in Niceland woke up with a scream, the entire game shaking from the blast.

In the mayor's apartment, Gene fumbled out of bed, looking around in fright.

"Aw come on, what NOW?!"

Back in his shack, Ralph jumped to his feet and made his way towards the door. When he got there, he was more than a little surprised to find that there was no door. In fact, a missing door was the least of his problem since the entire front end of his house was now gone, blasted away by some sort of bomb.

"MY HOUSE!" Ralph screamed, looking right into the gaping hole.

"Well, if it is the big red-wrecker!" cackled a familiar voice.

Ralph looked over to the side to come face-to-face with none other than Gritz, his gang standing right behind him. Suffice to say, Ralph was none too pleased to see the gang and without even thinking twice, he rushed over to the leader, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and lifting him off the ground as if he weighed nothing.

"JUST WHAT IN THE WORLD DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOIN'?!" Ralph roared in anger.

Gritz was undeterred, almost as if he were humored by Ralph's rage "Isn't it obvious big guy? We're finishing what we started back in the station!"


	8. Chapter 8-Second on the Clock

Chapter 8- Seconds on the Clock

Ralph stood before the Gritz Gang, the large group of fighters outnumbering the wrecker a dozen to one and growing!

But that didn't mean a thing to Ralph.

They had come to HIS game, THEY had thrown the first punch, THEY were about to learn a lesson in Wreck-Osity 101!

Their professor? Mr. Wreck-it- Ralph!

"I only have one question, how the heck did you get past Surge!?" Ralph growled.

Gritz let out a little laugh as he rolled his head, "It doesn't take too much to short out a stuffed shirt like him!" the man replied, showing Ralph a rather large wrench "Just shove something like this into the main breaker and POW! He's out for a while!"

Ralph jumped forward and grabbed Gritz by the collar "WHY YOU-!"

"What's goin' on here!" shouted Calhoun, running out of the main doors of the apartment with Felix following close behind.

"Oh, it's Ms. Blondie! Nice to see you join us!" Gritz said in a taunting manner, waving his hand as if nothing were happening.

"Gritz!" the sergeant growled "I should have known a big galumph like you would take some chances on suspension!"

"Hey, give me some credit!" the man laughed "I just missed you guys SOOOOO much, I HAD ta come for a visit!"

Calhoun marched up to the man, glaring at him with daggers "You've already crossed the line tonight. Do ya really wanna risk doin' it again?!"

"Baby, if that's an invite for a fight, I'm all up for it!" the man said, patting Calhoun on the head as if she were some child. The woman didn't take too kindly to the 'compliment' and in a blink of an eye, she grabbed the man by his arm and hurled him into a nearby bush, the others gasping in shock.

"Wanna restate that?!" Calhoun sneered, cracking her knuckles.

Gritz slowly rose from the bush but instead of readying himself for a fight, the man just sat there, looking a bit too calm for Calhoun's liking.

"Spicy….just the way I like 'em!"

Gritz then snapped his finger and before anyone else could move, his entire gang surrounded the lot of characters, preventing any of them from escaping.

"I was fair in lettin' you have the first swing honey…." Gritz said, walking up to Calhoun with his hands in his pockets "But this time, IT'S MY TURN!"

The man then took a swing at Calhoun, hitting her in the jaw and knocking her off her feet.

"HONEY!" Felix shouted but before he could move, another gang member grabbed him and tossed him right into the duck pond.

"LAY A HAND ON ANYONE ELSE AN' YOU'RE DEAD!" bellowed Ralph, lifting up the crony and tossing him right into the brick pile.

And as the punches flew, an all-out brawl began on the front lawn of Niceland. Granted, it was more of a battle between Gritz, his men, and the trio of Ralph, Felix, and Calhoun with the others ensnared into the mess. With not a bit of strength to aid them, the others didn't stand a chance against the Gritz gang.

What was the other option?

Running of course!

"EVERYONE! OOFF!" GET TO SAFETY!" Calhoun yelled as she was being pulled back into a fight.

"THAT'S EASY FOR YOU TO SAY!" screamed Pearl "YOU CAN ACTUALLY RUN WITH YOUR LEGS!"

The smaller characters tried their best to hide and flee but it seemed wherever they went, another gang member was there waiting for them and they just couldn't miss the opportunity to toss a Nicelander or two.

"Just like tossing bean-bags!" cackled one of the gang members, taking two Nicelanders into his huge hands before tossing them off somewhere.

All this fun with the helpless Nicelanders was simply delicious for the gang but there was one Nicelander in particular that was not in the fight.

GENE.

* * *

Gene remained in his room, huddled on the floor with a comforter wrapped around him. The terrified screams and large explosions that rocked the game were more than enough to convince him to stay put but the more he heard the more pressure he began to feel.

Those were HIS people out there suffering and once again, he was hiding from the fight.

He WANTED to go out there and fight but he then remembered the man who was aiming for was the SAME man who had hours before clocked him into a wall and shoved him into a trash bin.

If he didn't stand a chance then, what chance did he have NOW?!

"STOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOP!" Gene mumbled to himself, wanting nothing more than to find a space to crawl into and disappear forever.

Back on the lawn, Ralph was trying his best to hold off the attacks but he was quickly realizing that juggling so many fighters at once was not the best for him. Calhoun and Felix weren't doing that well either. Even though she was a combat fighter, Calhoun was finding it difficult to take on a bunch of adrenalin driven meat-tanks that didn't seem to have an off switch.

And Felix?

By now, Felix was hanging by his tool belt on a tree, another member taunt him by taking his hat away from him.

"OOOooooOOOOoooo! I'm Fix-it-Felix! I have a big nose an' a weird accent! HOWDY YA'LL!"

"THAT'S TEXAN! I'M OBVIOUSLY FROM THA SOUTH!" Felix shouted, his arms thrashing about in rage to hit the bully, missing every time.

"URGH, these guys keep crawling out of the woodwork like ANTS!" the wrecker growled, slamming his head into another fighter, knocking him out.

"Oh, is that so?" cackled Gritz, pulling Ralph over to the side "Then why don't WE dance, Big Red?"

Ralph scowled, throwing a huge first at Gritz and landing a blow. The man recovered quickly but remained on the ground, swinging his long legs around and knee-capping Ralph, sending him falling into the grass like a huge tree

"AAAAH! You guys provide me with such WONDERFUL exercise!" the brawler laughed, getting back on his feet.

Ralph tried to pick himself up but Gritz grabbed him by his overall straps, lifting him up and hurling through the air right through one of the apartments in East Niceland. As the dust cleared, everyone could see Ralph sitting in a pile of broken bricks, a hand to his head as he glared at the man who stood in front of him.

"Okay. That's it! I'M DONE PLAYIN' NICE WITH YOU!"

The two clashed once again, causing even more destruction with each pounding that they took. Ralph finally managed to get the fighter in a choke-hold, forcing all his weight onto him.

"C-Come on man! You know you're not getting' anywhere with this! JUST STOP!"

"We'll stop!" Gritz said, hurling a brick right through one of the apartment windows "ONCE WE HAVE THAT TUBBY MAYOR OF YOURS!"

* * *

It was if Gene heard Gritz all the way from the yard; he sat up as if someone had stuck a pin in his bottom, his eyes wide and full of fear.

"W-what am I doing?!" the man said to himself "I-I've got to get out there and stop all of this!"

Gene rushed out of his apartment, heading right for the stairs only but in his rush, he didn't notice Mary standing by the hall window. The man crashed right into the woman, knocking her down.

"OOF!"

"Oh goodn- MARY!" Gene cried, getting to his feet and helping the woman up "Oh, this is the LAST thing I need!"

"Gene, Gene! I'm fine!" the woman said, brushing off her skirt "But I can't say the same for everyone else!"

"W-what?! What do you-?!"

Gene then turned his head towards the window, a horrific sight meeting his eye.

"SWEET GHOST OF MIYAMOTO!" the man screamed in horror, his hands pressed on his face.

Niceland was being turned into a literal WAR-ZONE. Gritz and his gang were making it their mission to destroy everything in sight and torment anyone who came in their way and it didn't matter WHO it was.

A Nicelander?

They got a good kick in the face and was sent flying off somewhere in the distance!

Q-Bert and one of his friends?

They got tossed about like they were filled with helium!

"*(#$R*&*%&*%%^!" chattered the little orange character as he was plucked from the groun and held aloft in the air by one of the gang members.

"SHUT UP! YOU TALK FUNNY!" the brute shouted as he then drop-kicked the poor creature into the rose bushes.

Watching from within the apartment, Gene was beside himself in panic.

"WHAT DO I DO, WHAT DO I DO, WHAT DO I DO?!" the man said to himself, sinking on the ground, the echoes of the screams and shouts working his way deep into his very soul.

He couldn't deny it; he was TERRIFIED but he knew he had to do SOMETHING! His home was being attacked and even the toughest of fighters were no match for the onslaught!

"O-Okay!" said Mary, wringing her hands in nervousness "I could try to reach some other games to help but I'm not-!"

The woman then turned just in time to see Gene collapse onto the ground, the Nicelander ducking below the window, holding himself in a small ball and rocking on his bottom.

"It's just a dream…it's just a dreaaaam…it's just a DREAAAAAAAAM!"

Mary fell to her knees and grabbed Gene by his shoulders, shaking him.

"Gene? GENE?! GENE, LISTEN TO ME!"

The portly mayor shut his eyes and clenched his teeth, trying in vain to convince himself that he would wake up in his bed, everything back to normal but it was obvious that he was lying to himself.

What was happening before him was REAL and even worse?

He knew that he was once again contributing nothing to help.

"Come on Gene! SNAP OUT OF IT!" Mary said, pulling hard on the man's cheeks.

"GYWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

With a large CRASH, Don SAILED through the window and crashed headfirst into the wall in front of Gene. The Nicelander fell stone-cold in front of the other two before regenerating a second later, lying on his side and twitching horribly.

"DON! DONALD! SPEAK TO ME!" Mary said, crawling over to her neighbor.

"Why? AH JUST WANNA KNOW, WHY?!" the sailor shouted, dropping his posh accent for his more crass one.

That was it! That was all Gene needed to see to convince him to get off his butt and do something!

"NO MORE!"

Mary watched as Gene made his way to the stairs, still unsure herself on whether or not she should follow him.

"Oh, PLEASE don't do anything STUPID!"

Scowling angrily, Gene made his way back to the stairs and began the trek to the atrium of the apartments. Things would have gone much more smoothly had one of the gang members NOT tossed a bomb near the side of the apartment, the device going off just as Gene was about to take a step from the fifth floor.

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"NYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

And then Gene ROLLED the rest of the way down.

The mayor hit the side of the door with a painful THUD, picking himself up once the pain in his body faded. Staggering to the front door, the little man was finally able to take in the full destruction of his home.

"Oh Gene….what have you UNLEASHED?!"

"BACK! BACK YOU BUTT-UGLY NEANDERTHAL!" Nel shouted, trying her best to push back one of the brutes with a yard stick.

"Aw, the fluffy one thinks she can FIGHT!" the man said, grabbing Nel by her hair and holding her up, the woman crying out.

"NEL!" Norwood yelled angrily, running as fast as his tiny legs could carry him "YOU LET HER DOWN! YA HEAR?!"

Sadly, Norwood's heroics were only met with laughter by the gang member, the man grabbing Norwood by the back of his sweater-vest and squishing him against Nel.

"Aw, did I hurt your girlfriend?" the member said with a cheeky grin.

"EXCUSE ME?!" shouted Nel angrily "WHAT DO YOU MEAN GIRL-UURRRRF!"

The large man then shoved the two Nicelanders through the opening of a tire before chucking them away as if they were nothing.

Inside the atrium, Gene watched as the tire went sailing through the air.

Right where he was standing.

"Oh please, don't land her-!"

The two Nicelanders landed with a large crash right next to Gene, the tire rolling into the atrium and only coming to a stop once it hit the couch. The mayor scrawled to his feet though he wasn't sure HOW to pull his friends out of the tire.

"GAH! Are you two alright?!"

Nel gave Gene a sarcastic look, the woman thankful that of the two she had landed upright "We're GREAT Gene! This is just somethin' Nory an' I like to do!"

"I can't feel my body…."

"Okay, that's it! No more!" Gene said, standing up and marching out the door.

"WAIT! GENE! DON'T LEAVE US!" Nel screamed as she kicked her tiny legs "I'M NOT SURE HOW I FEEL BEING STUCK IN THIS POSITION!"

"Nel! Your foot is on my butt!" Norwood sobbed, his cheeks burning bright.

"SHUT UP NORWOOD!" the woman yelled in anger, kicking the Nicelander in his bottom.

Gene pushed open the doors and stood at the foot of the entrance, cupping his hands over his mouth.

"Everyone!"

No response. Everyone was still running around like their heads were cut off.

"EVERYONE STOP!" the man shouted, his voice a little louder.

Still no answer. Gene turned just in time to see poor Tony being strung up by his shoes on the tram roof.

"BUT JUST SHINED THEM!" the Nicelander cried, flailing his arms.

Obviously, Gene needed to turn up the volume once more. The little man took a deep breath, his chest puffing out and…

"EVERYBODY! SHUT UUUUUUUUP!"

That got everyone's attention!

All eyes then focused on Gene, the little man twiddling his fingers nervously once he realized he still didn't know what exactly to say to the fighting crowd.

"Er, someone said they wanted to see me?"

Gritz grinned evilly, dropping Ralph to the ground as he walked over to the mayor.

"Bought time Tubby came out…."

Gritz was ready to pound Gene into the ground but once he got a good look at the little man, he stopped in his tracks, his eyes wife.

"H-Hey! WHAT THE-?!"

"What? What is it THIS time?!" Gene asked, a little frantic but also a bit annoyed.

"I SAID I WANTED GENE!" Gritz said, pointing towards the mustache-less Nicelander "Who's this lil SHRIMP!"

"Gritz, ITS ME!" Gene said pointing towards his lip where his mustache once was "I just…I lost it okay?!"

The fighter folded his huge arms together as he glared down at the mayor "Oh, wanted to make yourself look even LESS like a dork, HUH?"

Gene scowled up to the man, his temper growing "Cut the comedy you hooligan! I'm here now! What do you want?"

Gritz let out a cruel laugh, his head going back "I think it's OBVIOUS what I want! I want to pay you back for kickin' me back in the station!"

"W-what?!" the mayor said, taking a step back "YOU PUNCHED ME AND THREW ME IN A TRASH BIN! ISN'T THAT ENOUGH PAYBACK?!"

"Unfortunately for you, NO." Gritz returned his brow furrowing "Ya see, that lil kick to the face ya gave me? That's somethin' a lotta the guys in this arcade WON'T forget. I mean, a big guy like ME bein' taken down by a fatty like you? It doesn't look well on my rep sheet!"

"And you think THIS does?!" Calhoun yelled from the crossed, punching a crony in the face.

"WAS I TALKIN' TO YA BLONDIE?!" Gritz shouted.

"HEY!" Gene snapped "You have no quarrel with Calhoun, Felix….or anyone else here! You said you wanted to take this fight to me? Then BRING IT!"

A snicker escaped Gritz' throat, then another. Soon, the man was nearly on his knees in laughter.

"Wow! Ya really got some guts didn't ya, small fry?!" the man chortled "In a way, it's almost CUTE!"

"I am NOT cute…." Gene said in a surprisingly calm voice "I'm just small and round."

"Fine then…." Gritz said, running his hand gracefully through his hair "How about this? In replacement of another beat down, how 'bout this? Since you're the mayor here and anything you say goes, why don't you promise US that from now on, you and your lil game of shrimps will pay us a tribute? Ya know, so you guys RECOGNIZE YOUR PLACE here in the game!"

"A TRIBUTE?" Gene blurted out "This isn't the mafia! You can't do that to us, no matter how much you threaten us!"

"Oh, but you want your game SAFE don't you, at least from US?" the man said with a smile "You saw what we did to G.I. Jane over there and Big Rig! What makes you think you can do any better, CHUBBY?"

Gene growled in anger but his mind quickly went back on the bet he was still under.

Curse all of this!

If he were in his right mind, he would have thrown the bet off and put a stop to the nonsense right then and there! But for whatever reason, whether it was pride or just the fear of failing at something AGAIN, Gene suppressed all his anger and instead gave Gritz a collected look.

"NO."

"Erm, EXCUSE ME Mayor Shorty?"

"I said NO." Gene said in a cold tone "There is no way I am letting the likes of YOU turn my home into some sort of horror house of fears! We have enough games like that!"

Gene then marched right up the man, his head up and his chest out.

"You like DEALS? Well, here's MY deal, young man!" Gene said, his arms crossed "Get out of my game or else you'll face even MORE charges than you've already racked up, got it?"

"An' who's gonna stop me?"

"Surge of course!" Gene snapped, still standing tall despite he knew he didn't have a single threat over the huge man.

"You mean, IF he finds out about this…." Gritz chuckled, rolling his eyes "Last time I check, the guy was sending sparks in the air, and not in a GOOD way!"

"You're threats don't scare me…." Gene replied "Because I know what you really are…."

"Oh?" the man said, growling a bit as he looked down at Gene, poking him roughly in the stomach "And what would I be?"

"You're nothing but a BRUTE." Gene spat "A bully who has nothing better to do than harass innocent game characters because you nothing else to accomplish!"

The large man growled angrily, his eyes narrowing at each word that came from Gene's mouth.

"I've seen your type before. I BET you have fun knocking lil guys like us around DON'T you?" the mayor said, stepping beside the man and giving him the once over "Well, I hope you enjoy it because I can just tell, from the way you're goin' about, it won't before you AND your group of roadies over there will take a fall and land harder than a rotten red wood!"

"What are you sayin', OLD. MAN?" Gritz said, glaring angrily at the tiny mayor.

"What I'm SAYIN' is THIS….." Gene quipped, his eyebrow arching. "You're just the BRUTE who's going to get his sooner than you think!"

That line.

That classic, CLASSIC Gene line.

Ralph was all too familiar with the statement and as everyone stood still, he could only fear how Gritz would react to it!

"Thanks for the advice…" Gritz said gruffly "LEMME GIVE YOU SOME FOR YOU!"

Once again, Gene was given a powerful punch to the face, the man flying back like a rocket into the atrium. To is great MISFORTUNE, who should be coming down the elevator but MARY, the woman walking out just in time to see Gene come careening through the doors and impacting with the wall!

"Gene!" Mary cried as the man landed at her feet "AUUUUURGH! NOT AGAIN!"

Gene rolled over on his back, seeing nothing but stars in his eyes.

"Well, I can say it was less painful than the punch in the station!"

Mary kneels over to the man and lifted up his head, cradling him gently "I KNEW I should have waited until I called for more help!"

The mayor rubbed his sore cheek, feeling something lose within his mouth.

"Urg, let me get back to you on that…"

The man then spit something out on the floor, the white object bouncing twice before coming to a stop in front of both Nicelanders.

A tooth.

"This day just keeps getting BETTER and BETTER…" Gene moaned, leaning back into Mary's arm.

"THAT'S IT!" Mary screeched, standing up and going right for the door "I have had it up to HERE with these brats!"

"M-Mary! WAIT!" Gene said, getting to his feet as he attempted to stop the woman from leaving the safety of the apartment.

But it was far too late to reach Mary. She had watched Gene get abused far too much for her liking and she was ready to give these so called 'fighters' a piece or two of her mind! She continued to walk up to the hulking men, the group laughing it up from their boss' latest attack on Gene.

"EXCUSE ME!" Mary yelled, her hands on her hips.

"OH look at this gentlemen, the little wimp sent his WOMAN after us!"

"Say that AGAIN, young man!" Mary shouted.

"Sorry, I can't hear ya way down there!" Gritz said cruelly, bending down to Mary's height.

An opening.

With a growl, Mary balled up her tiny fist and SLUGGED Gritz right in the nose, the man yelping in shock at the impact.

Silence befell the entire area as everyone started at the two, their mouths agape. Mary huffed angrily, her face bright red in fury. Gritz was of course stunned that he had once again been taken by surprise by a NICELANDER, and it wasn't just ANY Nicelander this time.

It was MARY.

"How DARE you!" Mary said, her little fist shaking "How DARE you come to our home and say such things!"

Mary moved even closer to the man, her body shaking with rage.

"What gives you the right to just come in here and…and TREAT US LIKE THIS! WE'VE DONE NOTHING TO YOU!"

Gritz focused his eyes on Mary and growled evilly.

"You useless creeps! You're only good to THROW!"

Gritz prepared to punch Mary but the Nicelander saw the move coming. Even though she ducked, she still wasn't fast enough to completely avoid a hit, getting knocked back on the arm and sent tumbling back to the front of the apartments.

"MARY!" Felix screamed, reaching out for the woman.

The Nicelander took a rather nasty tumble before landing at the feet of Gene, the man only able to let out a silent scream as the woman he loved lay before him, injured.

Everything stopped.

Everything crashed.

Gritz had just laid his hands on Mary.

He had just HIT Mary.

HE HAD HURT MARY.

Gene was still frozen in shock as he looked down at the woman. In frazzled mind, it was if Gritz had beaten Mary to a pulp just to spite him.

But in reality, her injuries were not as server as he thought.

True, she was hurt….but the worst of it was a twisted ankle.

"Oooow…." The woman moaned, a little dizzy from her spill "That's what I get for letting my guard down!"

Gritz snorted once before he turned back to the others, not at all moved at what he had done to the tiny woman.

"Well people, shall we return to business?"

And with that, the gang attacked the residence again, the battle starting back up and becoming worse than before.

Mary tried to pick herself up but the pain in her ankle quickly sent her back to the ground.

"Ouch!" the woman hissed through her teeth, looking at her swollen ankle "Great! Now wh-?!"

Ding.

"What the-?"

Ding.

DING.

Mary looked at the clock in the hall, seeing that the hands were now on 12.

Midnight.

He did it.

Gene won.

He had gone the entire bet without getting angry once!

But did it really matter now?

Niceland was a mess. People were running and screaming for cover as Gritz and his gang wrought havoc throughout the entire area.

What was the point of winning a bet when there was nothing to be won?

Mary moved over to the wall, picking herself up as she watched the chaos ensue, "That's it! I'm calling Chun-Li or Eggman or SOMEONE! They should be able to stop this, right Gene?!"

No answer.

"Gene?"

Again, nothing.

The woman turned her neck to the side slowly, only to be met with one of the most horrifying things she had ever laid her eyes upon.

Gene stood in the door way, his entire body rage red with the most furious look on his face. His hands were balled tight, the veins showing through his skin. With each passing second, the bottle up anger that Gene had been withholding in himself was starting to bubble over.

Every word that had been thrown at him, every trick that had been played on him, everything that had hurt the man's pride and happiness, it was all building up into a massive bomb of anger.

And seeing Mary get hurt was the flint that lit the fire.

Mary's blood ran cold as she looked into the eyes of Gene, seeing that the man was now overcome with pure, untapped rage.

She took a step back, then another, and without thinking twice she DOVE behind the couch for cover.

There was no way she was going to get caught in this blast!

Back outside, Gritz was having the time of his life, sending the poor residence of Niceland fleeing for their lives. Even belter, Ralph was no match for his energy and strength and it didn't take long for the fighter to overpower the wrecker.

"HAD ENOUGH!? HAD ENOUGH?!" Gritz roared, giving Ralph another punch in the stomach.

The wrecker fell back, the wind knocked out of him as he watched the fighter approaching him, a horrible sneer on his face.

"Hmmph, just as I thought…." Gritz cackled "Everyone in this game is a softy. You're not even worth my-!"

"GWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

"Time-?"

Before Gritz had a second to react, he felt what he thought was a CANNON ball plow him in the face, the impact so great that the man FLEW off his feet and tumbled back a good five yards before skidding into a nearby tree!

"Holy COW! What in the world was THAT!?" Felix asked, looking around frantically.

Gritz shook his head, trying to see what had attacked him but as he looked forward, the only thing he saw as a short, stout figure stomping over to him, his entire body red and the most horrific of scowls etched onto his face.

GENE.

"WHAT THE-?!"

"Is that….GENE?!" said Calhoun, looking in disbelief.

The Nicelander marched over to Gritz, walking on the man's chest before stopping right at his face, grabbing him by the collar.

"You said you wanted a FIGHT!?" the man growled.

Gritz could only blink in surprise; what in the arcade was going on?!

"Then FIIIIGHT!" Gene roared, somehow finding the strength to knock Gritz UP into the tree he had previously been lying on. The fighter let out a painful yowl as he landed in the branched, all before falling out due to his weight. The man didn't even have a second to recover before he felt another blow hit him in the face, this time sending him ROLLING to the trolley station.

"Homman, homman, w-wha-?" the man said, all before looking up to see that Gene was RUNNING right towards him!

"AW NAH! AW NAH!" the man shouted, trying to get up before the Nicelander could take a swipe at him.

"I'M NOT THROUGH WITH YOU YET!" Gene bellowed as he JUMPED into the air and landed on Gritz, grabbing onto a large section off a broken picnic table and LIFTING it above his head, only to bring it down on the man as it if were a bat!

WHAM!

WHAM!

WHAM!

"WAIT! WAIT! WE CAN TALK THIS OVER!" Gritz managed to finally pipe in, trying his best to roll away from the fuming man who was still landing blows on him.

"TALK IS OVER!" Gene screeched, tossing the broken object to the side and diving not Gritz, wrapping his arms around the man's throat and biting his ear as if he were some sort of rabid animal. Gritz let out a painful scream as he shoot to his feet, throwing his arms as he tried to throw Gene off of him.

"GET HIM OFF ME! GET HIM OFF ME!"

The fighter then tripped on a pile of fallen bricks, sailing fast first into the mud pile but even this didn't stop Gene's rage. Even covered in mud, Gene continued to beat the chili-cheese stuffing out of Gritz! He then began SLAMMING Gritz' face into the mud hole, smushing it further and further into the muck.

"THE MUD TASTE GOOOOD, DOESN'T IT?! YUM, YUM!"

"Aw MAN! GRITZ!" called out on of the gang members, running over to his leader. The team tried to pry Gene off their leader but the man then latched onto his face, sinking his teeth into the man's face.

"YOU MORONS! YOU'RE MAKIN' HIM MADD-AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

The first member pulled harder but the Nicelander wouldn't release his hold!

"YOU LITTLE FREAK! LET GO!" the member said, smacking Gene upside his head in anger.

Big mistake.

"Whoopsies!" Calhoun said with a snicker, enjoying every minute of what was happening.

The mayor then turned his focus on the gang members, his eyes wide and filled with burning rage. He let out a snarl before leaping on the men and, much to everyone surprise (and horror), he began to go at the group much like a weasel would go after a flock of defenseless chickens.

"AUUUUUUUURGH! HE'S GOT MY ARM!"

"OH PROGRAMMERS! STOP HIM!"

"GWAARGH!"

The group of characters could only look on in shock and awe as the entire team of men were being picked off one by one by Gene! A flurry of fighters crawled and attempted to claw their way free from the furious man but they were unable to escape. When one tried to free himself, he found himself being dragged right back into the heart of the fight, screaming and grasping at the ground in horror.

"OH PLEASE HAVE MERCY AND HELP ME!"

"COME BACK HERE, BOY!" Gene roared, dragging the other man back into the fight.

"HE'S RIPPIN' ME APAAAAAAAART!"

"Sh-should we step in?" asked Ralph, looking down at Calhoun.

The sharp SNAP of a breaking bone filled the air, followed by a horrific scream. Felix winced in pain.

"I think Big Gene has this in order!"

"THIS IS FOR DON!" Gene said, punching a member in the nose "THIS IS FOR ROY!" he screamed, taking a rake and smashing it against another fighter's skull!

"AND THIS IS FOR MAAAAAAAAAAAAARY!"

Gene then dive bombed right into Gritz' stomach, going in so far that one could see the imprint on his face on the other man's back!

"Hey, what are we? Chopped liver?" Norwood snorted, crossing his arms.

"NORWOOD."

Inside the apartment, Mary just STARED at what Gene was doing, much too taken aback to really say anything to stop the fighting.

Not that she wanted to anyway, what with the things the Gritz Gang had done to Niceland.

The woman slowly opened the door, limping her way to the crowd to get a better view of the melee. Seeing Mary standing next to him, Blake patted Mary on the shoulder though he shook his head, as if he weren't sure to be happy or just concerned at this point.

"Mary? You are a lucky, LUCKY woman."

"AND WHY IS THAT?!"

After what felt like an eternity of fighting, the pummeling then came to a stop, Gene standing atop the pile of downed fighters and panting heavily, torn fabric and the broken rake in his hand.

"You guys have anything else you'd like to say?!" the man shouted.

The only response that came was the sound of moans and whimpers. A sob here and there, but no one said a word.

After that beat-down, Gritz and his boys were at least intelligent to know to keep their mouths shut now!

Still fuming, the Nicelander jumped from the pile, pushing aside few of the others to make his way towards Gritz. The little man then grabbed the beaten man by what was left of his jacket, pulling him close.

"N-N-now! Let's talk this through!" Gritz said with a nervous smile on his face, his skin turning a bit blue "Th-th-there's no need for such senseless violence!"

"Oh, you want to talk now?" Gene said in a surprisingly calm voice "Don't worry! We're gonna have us a TALK!"

The Nicelander yanked Gritz from the pile and threw him in front of the Nicelanders and the others, stepping right on the man's back.

"You see these guys here?" Gene said, pointing towards his neighbors "These are MY friends. These are MY family and I don't appreciate the way YOU have been treating them!"

Gritz whimpered as his eyes scanned across the group, seeing that they were now looking at him in pity rather than fear. The mayor then took the man roughly by his chin, turning him again so they were seeing each other eye to eye.

"Now…I can tell deep, deep, DEEP down there has to be a man with SOME sense in his skull! I want to ask THAT man if he knows what would be the best thing to do now!"

Gritz gulped, shivering a bit in Gene's hold "I-I should apologize?"

"Aaaand?" Gene said with a smile.

The fighter blinked. What else did Gene want him to do?

"I-I should never talk to you or anyone like this again?"

"AAAAAAAND?" Gene said, gripping his fist tightly.

"A-AND MY TEAM WILL CLEAN UP EVERYTHING HERE! JUST PLEASE! DON'T HURT US AGAIN!"

"Wonderful!" Gene said brightly, dropping Gritz like a stone "See! So much can be accomplished if you act with GRACE instead of fighting all the time!"

Gene wiped his hands clean as Gritz shivered near him but after a moment or two, Gene turned back, glaring at the huge man furiously.

"APOLOGIZE!"

"GAH! I'M SORRY! WE'RE ALL SORRY!" the man screamed, tears pouring from his eyes.

And with that, Gene turned on his heels and marched happily back towards the apartment, the others just watching in shock. The man wasn't a foot towards the door when he stopped.

"What is it NOW?!" asked Norwood, pulling Nel back a bit without thinking.

"OH MY GOODNESS!" shouted Gene in surprise.

The man then turned, his entire composure having gone from rage to great concern. He ran back towards the crowd and embraced Mary into his arms tightly.

"Are you alright, dear?!"

"ME?! What about YOU?!" Mary asked, still squished between Gene's body.

Without another word, Gene scooped Mary into his arms and carried her back towards the apartments.

"Those horrible men! Hitting a woman like you in such a beastly manner! I'll get you back to your apartment and make sure you're alright!"

"But dear-!"

Gene nuzzled the woman softly, the woman blushing as she let out a squeak.

"Please, let me take care of you dear…."

Mary looked up at Gene, seeing the pain and worry in his eyes. Without another word, the little woman just gave a nod, clutching onto Gene as the man walked into the elevator, heading up to higher floors.

Once the two were gone, the others looked at the huge mess that lay before them.

Felix knew that he had his work cut out for him.

"M-Might as well get started…."

"I don't think so…." Calhoun said with a slight laugh "As Gritz said, he AND his buddies would be the ones who would clean up THIS mess!"

Grtiz crawled over to Calhoun, looking as if he were ready to jump to his feet and fight her again "Are ya kiddin'?! Who says we-?!"

Calhoun then planted the bottom of her boot on the man's face "Not so fast there, kiddo! I would HATE to inform Mayor Gene that you disobeyed his orders!"

The woman then sneered, her eye twinkling.

"It would be a SHAME for you guys to have to go through another BEAT-DOWN, wouldn't it?"

Gritz' entire face went pale, fear coming into his eyes. He then shrank down, crawling back on his knees as he scuttled over to his gang.

"NO, NO, NO! WE'LL GET EVERYTHING CLEANED UP! WON'T WE BOYS?!"

The gang nodded in unison as they then jumped to their feet and began to tidy up the yard, not stopping once even with their injuries. Calhoun snickered, watching men toil away.

"Didn't I tell ya honey? Things would work out just FIIIIIINE!"


	9. Finale

Finale

It didn't take long for word to get out about what had happened in Niceland in the wee hours of the morning. Games were chatting it up, all the way from Pac-Man to Shooting Gallery. They just couldn't believe what NICELANDER GENE had done!

"He kicked HOW MANY butts?!"

"Sent them all cryin' to their mamas!"

"You could hear the screaming all the way from here!"

Gene of course was still dumbfounded by what he had done. By the time he was done helping Mary with her ankle, his memory was a blur of the previous events. All he could remember was some yelling and running….

He just couldn't take in how much he had done, even when the others relayed the story to him.

"I SAID WHAT?!" the mayor said, looking at Calhoun in utter disbelief.

"Hold still mayor…" Felix said, carefully tapping the man on his lip with his hammer, making the pixels of his mustache appear once more.

Gene rubbed his lip, happy to have his mustache back on. "Thank you Felix…." The man sighed "But unless I have some sort of proof of what happened…"

"YOU MEAN THE BROKEN TREES AREN'T ENOUGH?!" screamed Roy.

Gene shook his head, still looking caught up in the moment.

"I just can't really believe it…."

The man then looked at his neighbors, the group still a little surprised at that mayor's confused, as well as calm reaction.

"B-but if you say so!" the man sniffed, straightening his tie "Then I guess I DID take care of things around here!"

"YEEEEAH. Ya sure did!" Ralph snickered, rolling his eyes.

"But all that aside, there is ONE thing I DO remember clearly…." Gene said, walking up to Ralph with a smug grin.

"And what would that be?"

"The bet." The mayor said, pointing to himself "I. WON."

Calhoun turned her head, a hand to her mouth as she stifled a laugh; the look that Ralph had on his face was priceless. If only she had a camera for this moment.

The wrecker grumbled a bit, putting his hands in his pockets.

"UUurgh, I guess you're right…." The man growled "Y-You…."

"Yes?" Gene said, smiling cheekily.

"Y-You w-w-!"

"Ah-huh?"

"You WON."

Gene nodded proudly at the wrecker; he didn't have anything else he wanted to say but to hear those words pass Ralph's lips? They were like some sort of beautiful music!

"Okay, so ya proved ya could last a week without getting' mad. Good for ya." Ralph mumbled.

"Ah, ah, ah. We still had a deal!" Gene said.

"What deal?!" the wrecker said in surprise "I don't think I owed you anything other than not to mess with your stuffy butt as much!"

"Who said I was asking YOU for anything?" the mayor said, going to the bar to fetch something.

A moment or two later, Gene came from behind the bar, holding not one, not two, BUT FIVE of his homemade bottles of vodka, smiling all the way.

"I want you to have these."

Ralph was stunned; he remembered that if HE had won the bet, it would have been GENE would had to give up something! But everyone had agreed that the mayor was the victor!

So why was he giving Ralph HIS prize?

"Gene….WOW! I don't-!"

"Ah, c'mon. Can't a guy do something nice without some incentive?" Gene said with a smile. His smile then faded a bit "Besides, I'm not really sure whether or not I hit people during my rage and if I hit YOU….take that as an apology."

"You didn't, but thanks for the gift anyway!" Ralph said, looking at the bottles.

"But seriously Ralph…I'm sorry if I scared you and anyone else this week." Gene said, sitting on the couch "I scared MYSELF to be honest!"

"Pfft, well. If I hadn't pulled some things, I don't think ya would have been HALF as crazy as you were!" Ralph said with a chuckle.

The man then turned, only to be faced with a rather COLD glare from Gene.

"YES. I KNOW."

Uh-Oh. Ralph hadn't wrecked whatever the two had going, had he?

Without warning, Gene broke into an uproarious laugh, almost as if he weren't mad at Ralph at all.

"Don't act so scared, my boy! Things are just fine!"

Unsure what to do, Ralph chuckled nervously, feeling a tad uncomfortable all things considered.

"But seriously, don't pull crap like that on me again." The mayor said, running his fingers through his hair, still eyeing Ralph.

Yeah, it was best not to get on Gene's bad side after this.

* * *

It only took a few hours for things to get running again in GCS. Felix had repaired the link for Surge, Niceland was once again spotless, and everyone had returned to their games safe and sound.

"So, one more time…." Calhoun sneered up at the Grtiz Gang "If ANY of ya get the bright idea to go messin' with ANYONE in this station, who will you have to deal with?"

The group of men looked at each other, shaking a bit.

"G-Gene?" whimpered one man?

"Uh, didn't hear YOOOOOU." The woman said teasingly, one hand over her ear, the other DANGEROULSY close to the trigger of her gun.

"Nicelander Gene!" said another man.

"Hmm, I think I heard somethin' but I'm not sure. I should get GEEEEENE in here and-!"

"MAYOR GENE, MA'AM! MAYOR GENE!" screamed Gritz.

"Heh, 'ts what I thought…." Calhoun said, leading the men back to their game.

"I don't think we'll have any more trouble with them!" Felix said with a smile, putting the final adjustments on Surge's repair.

"I hope so Felix!" Surge said, sparking a bit "I don't think my circuits can take any more stress!"

The work day went by like a dream. Never before had anyone felt so relieved! No one was under any silly bets, people weren't taking advantage of each other but most importantly, a little man in a blue cardigan had finally freed himself of all the stress he had put himself under.

"Quitin' time!" Felix called, walking towards the stairs on the roof, the other Nicelanders following him.

"So Gene, got anything planned for tonight?" asked Tony.

"Not that I know of! I'm sure I can think of something though!"

"Oh, Gene!" Felix said, stopping the mayor in the hall "Tammy found somethin' of yours!"

"Oh, and what would that be?"

Felix reached into one of his pockets, pulling out the repaired watch that Gritz had crushed only a night before. Gene looked at it in surprise; in all the madness that had happened, he had totally forgotten about it but seeing it again brought joy to the man's heart.

"Oh, Felix! Thank you so much!" the mayor said as he took the item, opening it up to see that it was working just fine "I'm sure MARY will be happy to know that its working as well, so I better-!"

"MAYOR NICELANDER GENE!" called a voice from the hall, a rather ANGRY sounding voice.

Gene jolted in shock to see Mary standing behind him, a rather miffed looked on her face. Gene and Felix were both a little surprised; what was Mary so upset about? In fact, she had seemed just fine a moment ago when the two left the roof.

Trying his best to please her, Gene ran up to Mary, taking her hands warmly, "Dear, is something wrong?"

"What are you doing out here in the hall?! You promised you would meet me for DINNER!"

"I DID?" asked the confused Mayor. He would NEVER have forgotten a date if Mary had planned it!

"Of COURSE you did!" Mary retorted rather sharply, poking Gene on his nose "Do you know how late you are?! Huh?"

"Er, excuse me dear?!" Gene piped in, not sure what to say.

Mary's hand shot out and took his watch, opening the latch and pointing towards the hands "You're three minutes late!"

Gene and Felix exchanged looks of bewilderment. Neither had a clue what was going on but if they wanted it to end….

Gene cleared his throat and looked his love right in the eyes, "Darling! Please, I'm sorry that I upset you but I can assure you that there is nothing to get THIS worked up over!"

"Ah-bah-bah-bah!" Mary said, holding out a hand to the man "I don't want to hear excuses, SIR! You are coming with me!"

"But Mary!"

"Don't sass ME, BIG GENE!" the woman said, taking hold of one of Gene's chubby cheeks and pulling him towards her apartment.

"OW! OW! But Mary! OW!"

Gene could do nothing more than flail around helplessly as he was dragged into Mary's apartment, Felix looking on, not sure what to do.

"Just when I thought we were done seein' people rage out here…." The repairman said, rubbing the back of his neck.

* * *

"Look dear, if I've done anything to upset you I'm SORRY!" the chubby mayor sputtered as he was shoved into Mary's apartment "But can't we talk this over? I mean, it would be much better than ARGUING, don't you think?"

Mary closed the door of her apartment, her back still facing the mayor.

"You want to talk things out?" the woman asked in a low voice.

Gene backed away towards the couch; just what was going on?

"Mary? Sweetie? Are you alright?"

Without warning, Mary turned around and playfully leapt on the mayor, squealing happily as she did so. Gene let out a squeak as he landed on the couch, Mary landing atop him.

"OOF! G-GOODNESS, what is goin-?!"

"Oh HUSH, Gene. You should have known I was playing with you!" Mary said teasingly, squishing Gene's cheeks together.

"Urrrf! Playingth wiff meef?!"

"Mmmm-HMM!" the woman smiled, giving the man a kiss on the nose "I'd figured it would be a fun way to get you alone!"

Gene blushed a bit as Mary let go of his face, looking up at the woman in shock.

"M-Mary! You could have ASKED if you wanted to see me!"

"But that wouldn't have been as much fun seeing you blush like this!" the woman replied, diving right into Gene as she embraced him in a tight hug, snuggling him.

Gene blushed brightly as Mary held him, "D-DEAR!"

"What? I love your hugs!"

The mayor knew he was caught and there was no escape. He just laid there on the couch, Mary still embracing him in an inescapable hug.

Wait a second? Why was he fighting this? Wasn't this what he wanted?

Gene looked down at Mary, the woman lying atop the man with her eyes closed, a smile on her face. The man then gently began to embrace her, the woman sighing.

"You know, I love your hugs…."

Chuckling, Gene ran his fingers through Mary's hair, smiling warmly.

"You know what?"

"Yes?"

"I think this is all I want to do tonight….." Gene smiled.

Mary wiggled a little closer to Gene's face, her nose touching his.

"That's fine by me, MAYOR."

And with that, Mary planted a kiss on Gene's lips.

There was nothing better in the world that Mary's kisses. Not even her baked goods could measure up to the feeling of happiness Gene got when he had a chance to kiss her.

The man held tighter onto Mary, both drifting off in the warmth of each other's arms.

"I love you, Gene." Mary said, looking up at the man.

"And I love you too, Mary." Gene said, returning the woman's kiss "I love you, I love you, I love you."

After thirty years, he finally said it.

And it was the best moment of their lives.


End file.
